[size=14pt]Decree No. 8 of 1967[/size]

The main feature of this Decree in the vesting in the Supreme Military Council of both the legislative and executive powers of the Government of the Federation. The Federal Executive Council which has hitherto exercised these powers has now been divested of them and it is henceforth to discharge those functions that are specifically delegated to it by the Supreme Military Council.

2. In the exercise of these legislative and executive powers, the concurrence of the Head of the Federal Military Government and of all the Military Governors is, for the first time, made essential in respect of certain matters which are set out in section 69 (6) of the Constitution. These are, to mention a few, matters affecting or relating to trade, commerce, industry, transport, the Armed Forces, the Nigerian Police, Higher Education, and the territorial integrity of a Region and the provisions of the sections listed in the proviso to section 4 (1) of the Constitution.

3. On the other hand, the legislative and executive powers of the Regions have been fully restored and vested in their respective Military Governors. But the provisions of section 86 of the Constitution of the Federation ensure that no Region shall exercise its executive authority so as to impede or prejudice the exercise of the executive authority of the Federation or to endanger the continuance of federal government in Nigeria.

4. The provisions of section 70 of the Constitution of the Federation give powers to the Supreme Military Council to take over the executive and legislative functions of a Regional Government during any period of emergency which might be declared in respect of that Region by the Supreme Military Council, while those of section 71 give the Supreme Military Council power to take appropriate measures against a Region which attempts to secede from the rest of the Federation, or where the executive authority of the Region is being exercised in contravention of section 86 of the Constitution.

5. On the question of amendment to a Regional Constitution, section 5 of the Constitution of the Federation has been suitably modified to the effect that in respect of certain matters mentioned in the section like, the appointment, tenure of office and terms of service of High Court judges, the functions of the Public Service Commission, the establishment of a Consolidated Revenue Fund, etc., andy Edict made shall come into operation only with the concurrence of the Supreme Military Council.

6. The Advisory Judicial Committee established under Decree no. 1 of 1966 and which before now tendered advice to the Supreme Military Council regarding appointment of judges all over the Federation ahs been abolished. Each Military Governor now controls appointment of judges of the High Court of his Region. But the appointment of the judges of both the Supreme Court of Nigeria and the High Court of Lagos is made the sole responsibility of the Supreme Military Council.

7. All appointments to posts in the superscale group 6 and above in the Public Service of the Federation and appointments to posts of Deputy Commissioner of Police and above in the Nigeria Police Force are now to be made by the Supreme Military Council. The functions formerly discharged under sections 110 and 146 of the Constitution of the Federation by the Federal Public Service Commission and the Police Service Commission respectively are now to that extent limited. 8. Appointments to the offices of Ambassador, High Commissioner and other principal representatives of the Republic in countries other than Nigeria are now, under the Decree, to be made by the Supreme Military Council.

Beaf: Nigeria was effectively declared a confederacy. What went wrong and how did we miss the boat?
This is one for the best minds on NL, the input of legal and constitutional minds will be especially appreciated.
Please let the discussion be cordial, cerebral and respectful.

Logic Mind:

Which part of that nonsense declared Nigeria a confederation?

Beaf:

That is the general concesus of legal minds according authoritative litterature out in the wild.
Tell us what you have against the decree.

HNosegbe: So what happened to this decree? Why did the military government embark on a state creation spree instead?

However, the home stretch of the final dash to the tape of eastern secession began on March 17, when Decree No. 8 - also known as the Constitution Suspension and Modification Decree 1967 - was promulgated, ostensibly to implement the Aburi agreements. The decree, for all practical intents and purposes, restored much of the autonomy of Military Governors in their respective regions which had been taken away on January 17, 1966 by Decree No. 1 of 1966.

Consistent with agreements reached between military leaders at Aburi, in Ghana on January 4th and 5th, the title of the 'Supreme Commander' of the Nigerian Armed Forces was changed to "Commander-in-Chief"; the executive authority of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which had been vested in the Head of the Federal Military Government, was now vested in the Supreme Military Council. Indeed the SMC could not make laws on some issues without the approval of not only the C-in-C but also ALL regional governors.

However, section 86 of the Constitution was upheld, to ensure that no region could exercise authority in a manner that placed the corporate integrity of the federal government in jeopardy. Furthermore, sections 70 and 71 of the Constitution were invoked to specify that a state of emergency could be declared all over Nigeria by the SMC; and such laws as would be considered "necessary" or "expedient" for maintenance of law and order could be passed with concurrence of three (3) out of the four (4) governors. During such an emergency the federal government reserved to itself the right to overrule any laws that had hitherto been passed by the military government of the region to which the state of emergency applied.

Citing what he considered a serious violation of the Aburi accord, and the need to have absolute control over the question of safety and security for his people, the Military Governor of the Eastern region (Lt. Col. CO Ojukwu) rejected it. In taking this stance, he overruled the reservations of the Secretary to the Eastern Regional Government (NU Akpan) and a few senior eastern army officers (like Col Hilary Njoku). Ojukwu felt that the decree had the potential to deprive him of having a say in what steps might or might not be acceptable within his own region in the event of a state of emergency being declared. Conceivably such steps might even include replacing him with another Eastern officer.

However, those who lobbied that the Eastern region accept Decree No. 8 based their arguments on the fact that the decree gave Ojukwu "over 90%" of what he wanted at Aburi as well as providing a way to avoid the horrors of war. (Col Hilary Njoku's disagreement with Ojukwu on this point cost him the command of the Biafran Army and bagged him a sentence to jail without trial for almost the entire duration of the war. However, Mr. NU Akpan who was also pro-Decree No. 8 held on to his job as Secretary to the Government of the eastern region (and Biafra) to the very end.) Back on Feb 25, Ojukwu threatened to take unilateral action by March 31 if there were persistent delays in announcing the new decree as he understood it to have been agreed at Aburi. On March 1st Gowon met with the diplomatic corps to discuss the ABuri agreement and reservations the government had about certain implications of the Ojukwu interpretation. On March 10 the SMC met in Lagos without Ojukwu - for reasons of personal safety - in order to discuss the draft text. This was followed on Mar 12 by a meeting in Benin of all Law officers from the different regions - and the subsequent release of the decree.

naptu2: Unfortunately, we've been going back and forth along this path. I was surprised and shocked when I read the 1960 and 1963 constitutions for the first time. They contain most of what we need to solve our problems (state police, resource control and derivation, state constitutions, flags, etc. The regions even conducted foreign affairs!).

Then came Military rule and Ironsi tried to consolidate power by concentrating power at the centre. The document you posted above would have returned things to the way they were pre-Ironsi or even provided a looser federation, but the civil servants and military boys were afraid to lose power and ended up concentrating power at the centre and conferring enormous power on the person of the head of state.

Garba, Yar'Adua and (I forget the name of the third coupist) reduced the power of the head of state and vested more power in the SMC, but we were still running a unitary system.

The military were skillful in using propaganda to sustain this system. The Federal Military Government was the big father that was everything to his children. People who clamoured for devolution, privatisation, resource control, etc were greedy people who wanted to break up the family. The people saw the federal government as the symbol of Nigeria. A nice father that was consolidating power in order to protect the interests of the people. They didn't realise that the dictators were consolidating power for their own selfish reasons.

Beaf: Nigeria was effectively declared a confederacy.

Decree No. 8 of 1967:
The main feature of this Decree in the vesting in the Supreme Military Council of both the legislative and executive powers

Decree No. 8 of 1967:
The concurrence of the Head of the Federal Military Government and of all Military Governors is, for the first time made essential in respect of certain matters

Decree No. 8 of 1967:

No Region shall exercise its executive authority so as to impede or prejudice the exercise of the executive authority of the Federation or to endanger the continuance of federal government of Nigeria

Decree No. 8 of 1967:

Section 70 gives power to the Supreme Military Council to take over the executive and legislative functions of the Regional Government during any period of emergency

PointB: Decrees are just what they are - whims and caprices of some power drunk men.

Which means, the fellow who issues a degree can effectively abrogate such degree if it is evidence that it may not be favourable to his intended design.

To hinge your hope on a decree issue by a man who will not honour an agreement, is not in my opinion, pragmatic. Decree 9, 10, or 11 can effectively erode the supposed benefit of any decree.

People should not be rule by decree, not matter how 'well-meaning' they might initially sound.

Beaf: @ACM10
Your interpretation is so faulty that its laughable.
Allow me ask a single damning question:
What was the SMC?

PhysicsQED: [s]It may be incorrect to call decree 8 a confederation rather than a loose federation but it's absolutely ridiculous to call it unitary.[/s] @ ACM, I don't think you understood what the smc represented. When you find out what it was, you should reread the document.

naptu2: At that time, the Supreme Military Council was composed of the Head of State, the Chief of Staff and Regional Governors (that is, at first, Ironsi, Ogundipe, Ojukwu, Katsina, Fajuyi, Ejoor and Mobolaji Johnson, later on, Gowon, Adebayo and Wey).

During the first republic the regions had considerable autonomy. This continued at the beginning of military rule. For example, the military governor of Mid-West Region, David Ejoor, could declare his region neutral and state that he didn't want Federal or Biafran troops in his region. No military governor in the subsequent regimes could make such a declaration. He would have been sacked and detained, that is if he isn't shot.

ACM10:

SMC, just like AFRC iz a body of unelected top khaki boyz that are vested with executive and legislative power. But don't be fooled. The person that runs the show iz the Commander-in-chief, while the SMC iz a rubber-stamp body filled with hiz loyalists. Anyone that disagreez with the C-in-C iz either liquidated on trumped-up charges or summarily retired.

Now back to the topic.
1. What provisionz in this decree made Nigeria a Confederation?
2. How does this decree differ from 1999 Constitution?(frankly I see no difference)

naptu2: At that time, the Supreme Military Council was composed of the Head of State, the Chief of Staff and Regional Governors (that is, at first, Ironsi, Ogundipe, Ojukwu, Katsina, Fajuyi, Ejoor and Mobolaji Johnson, later on, Gowon, Adebayo and Wey).

During the first republic the regions had considerable autonomy. This continued at the beginning of military rule. For example, the military governor of Mid-West Region, David Ejoor, could declare his region neutral and state that he didn't want Federal or Biafran troops in his region. No military governor in the subsequent regimes could make such a declaration. He would have been sacked and detained, that is if he isn't shot.

1. Members agree that the legislative and executive authority of the Federal Military Government should remain in the Supreme Military Council, to which any decision affecting the whole country shall be referred for determination provided that where it is possible for a meeting to be held the matter requiring determination must be referred to military governors for their comment and concurrence.

2. Specifically, the council agreed that appointments to senior ranks in the police, diplomatic, and consular services as well as appointment to superscale posts in the federal civil service and the equivalent posts in the statutory corporation must be approved by the Supreme Military Council.

3. The regional members felt that all the decrees passed since January 15, 1966, and which detracted from previous powers and positions of regional governments, should be repealed if mutual confidence is to be restored.

ACM10:

He wz not sacked because Gowon wz distracted by the issue of Ojukwu. It could have a dumb move to make new enemies in the midwest when he iz already dealin with formidable ones in the east. In essence, Gowon wz tryin to make as many friendz as possible. So he overlooked the actionz of Ejoor. Remember that he later replaced him when the event wz under control