Citizenship: Ozekhome Seeks Amendment Of Section 26

Human rights lawyer, Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), has called on the National Assembly (NASS) to amend Section 26 of the 1999 Constitution to allow spouses of Nigerian women to apply for the country’s citizenship.

Ozekhome described the current state of the law as discriminatory against Nigerian women because Nigerian men can legally confer citizenship on their spouses under the constitution.

The senior lawyer made the call while reacting to a recent statement by the leader of the British opposition party, Kemi Badenoch, that she cannot transmit Nigerian citizenship to her children because she is a woman.

Although he disagreed with the British Nigerian-born politician, Ozekhome argued that the country must align immigration regulations with constitutional and international human rights standards.
The lawyer said that the assertions that only men can pass on citizenship are legally unfounded and constitutionally inaccurate under Section 25 of the Constitution.

He maintained, “Bureaucratic inefficiencies or gender biases in enforcement may exist, but these are implementation flaws, not constitutional defects.

“Despite Section 25’s gender-neutral language, Section 26, on citizenship by registration, exposes glaring gender disparity.

“Section 26(2)(a) allows a foreign woman married to a Nigerian man to apply for citizenship. However, there is no similar provision for foreign men married to Nigerian women. Thus, Kemi’s husband, Hamish, is not eligible for registration in the same way a foreign woman would be if married to a Nigerian man,” he stated.

Ozekhome also stressed that this discrimination violates Section 42 of the Constitution and international conventions like CEDAW and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, to which Nigeria is a signatory.

He also insisted that the inconsistency suggests that Nigerian women’s citizenship is seen as inferior to that of men, a deeply problematic stance in a modern constitutional democracy.

He pointed out, “Despite Section 25’s gender-neutral language, Section 26, on citizenship by registration, exposes glaring gender disparity.

Ozekhome said many countries, such as Ghana, South Africa, Canada and the United Kingdom, have reformed their nationality laws to eliminate gender bias:

Therefore, the human rights lawyer argues that Nigeria’s retention of colonial-era, patriarchal citizenship laws conflicts with contemporary principles of equality and justice.

“Nigerian women, whether at home or in the diaspora, deserve full equality in law and in practice. They are our mothers, sisters, and daughters—and must be treated as full and equal citizens,” he stated.