Interrogating citizenship in contemporary Nigeria nationality laws, lack of birth registration and state succession.3 The risk factors associated with the indigeneity principle have the propensity to approximate statelessness, though in the legal sense, only non-citizens can be stateless. Nonetheless, North-East Nigeria, in the last ten years has been a theatre of insurgency and violent conflict, spilling over into neighbouring counties. According to the United Nations (UN), there are 244,000 Nigerian refugees, over two million internally displaced and over 550,000 internally displaced persons in Cameroon, Chad and Niger.4 This rising complex humanitarian emergency in the three countries, including Nigeria, has great implications for how people could become stateless. Additionally, the challenges of ensuring right documentation and data transparency in terms of numbers for humanitarian support and reintegration, further puts these victims more at risk of being denied the rights associated with citizenship. The two case studies are, first, the discrimination of returnee women and children, who were abducted and sexually violated by the Boko Haram sect and returned to their communities following recapturing and rehabilitation by state actors and, second, Nigerians in the Bakassi Peninsula. The first case highlights the discrimination experienced by these Nigerian citizens by local government officials and district heads who have unfettered discretion to exercise their authority on issuing certificates of indigeneity however they see fit. Seeing that non-indigenes usually have less access to employment, education, political participation, and in some places to land, these returnees are in-turn faced with the deprivation of rights associated with citizenship and the ability to economically earn a living and provide for their families. The second case, Nigerians in the Bakassi Peninsula, discusses citizenship and statelessness in the legal sense. Following the 2002 ruling of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and due to the dissolution of the former Nigerian territory and its cession to Cameroon, almost 300,000 persons are at risk of statelessness, therefore increasing the number of cases of people who are uncertain about their Nigerian citizenship.5 Nigeria has ratified international conventions and protocols related to ensuring citizenship as a status to eligible persons, providing citizenship rights and ending statelessness, as well as incorporated these into domestic law. However, while Nigeria as a result is bound to tackle discrimination in the area of citizenship law, the two case studies presented bring to the fore a different reality. It is worth noting, at this juncture, that this short intervention is essential for at least two compelling reasons. First, in bridging specific theoretical, conceptual and legal gaps in citizenship studies, it is important to relate them to practice and reality. This is particularly applicable to the case studies presented in the paper. Both cases are real life practices that occur within Nigerian society. However, the apparent lack of adequate attention to these issues has led to the inability of relevant actors to grasp and provide adequate policy intervention even when they occur in observable daily activities. In Nigeria, where poverty, unemployment and violent conflict have become widespread, both cases highlight how citizenship laws are punctuated by primordial laws and a fluid application of international rulings. Second, a review of administrative practices highlights obstacles such as the proof of indigeneity as in the case of the returnee women and children and the lack of birth/residence certificates in the case of the people living on the Bakassi Peninsula. These practices underpin the crucial role of local government administration for national citizenship governance. 3 UNHCR, ‘What is statelessness?’ https://www.unhcr.org/ibelong/wp-content/uploads/UNHCR-Statelessness-2pagerENG.pdf 4 UNHCR, ‘Nigeria Emergency’, https://www.unhcr.org/nigeria-emergency.html 5 Anyu, J. N. (2007), ‘The International Court of Justice and border-conflict resolution in Africa: The Bakassi Peninsula conflict’, Mediterranean Quarterly 18(3): 39–55. European University Institute 13