Bronwen Manby and Solomon Momoh 2.4 The 1979 Constitution creates a new framework Military rule continued from 1966 until 1979, under a series of different leaders. Civilian rule was restored in 1979, following elections held under a new constitution creating a US-style presidential government. The 1979 Constitution fundamentally altered the framework for acquisition of citizenship. It both introduced an ethnic dimension to citizenship, and moved away from rights based on birth in the territory towards a descent-based rule. Chapter III of the 1979 Constitution established the basic rule that a person became a citizen at independence if he or she was born in the country and either parent or any grandparent ‘belongs or belonged to a community indigenous to Nigeria’; it also retained the rule that citizenship was only acquired on this basis by those born in Nigeria before independence if one parent or grandparent was also born in Nigeria. For those born in Nigeria after independence, citizenship was now granted based on descent from a parent or grandparent who was a citizen, of any category; those born outside acquired citizenship automatically if one parent was a citizen.12 Section 268 of the 1979 Constitution also provided that anyone who had acquired citizenship ‘by birth, naturalisation or registration’ under previous constitutions remained a citizen. That is, those born in Nigeria between 1960 and 1979 who had acquired citizenship based on the rules in force during that period remained citizens, and therefore also their children. It was not clear how this provision on continuity of citizenship interacted with the new provision requiring membership of an indigenous community in relation to those who became citizens at independence. 2.5 The 1999 Constitution The civilian government elected in 1979 was overthrown by another coup in 1983, leading to a period of successive military governments, until a long-promised return to civilian rule was finally achieved in 1999, and elections held under a new constitution, which remains in force. The citizenship provisions of the 1979 Constitution and the 1999 Constitution are practically the same. The main difference between the two is that the 1979 Constitution did not allow for dual citizenship for any Nigerian citizens, while the 1999 Constitution allows for dual citizenship for Nigerian citizens by birth and those naturalising, but creates an unusual prohibition on dual naturalised citizenship (see further below, heading on dual citizenship). 12 1979 Constitution, Section 23. RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-CR 2020/12 - © 2020 Author(s) 5