4th Alteration2017–2018· Acts Nos. 1–9, 2017–18
Constitution (Fourth Alteration) Acts, 2017–2018
Not-Too-Young-To-Run, financial autonomy for state legislatures and judiciaries, 30-day presidential assent rule.
The record
The Fourth Alteration is a bundle of nine distinct Acts signed by President Buhari in mid-2018 after a long passage through the National Assembly and the State Houses of Assembly. The most consequential, and the most popular, is the so-called 'Not Too Young To Run' Act (No. 1, 2017), which lowered the age requirement for the office of President from 40 to 35, for the Senate from 35 to 30, for the House of Representatives and State House of Assembly from 30 to 25, and for State Governors from 35 to 30.
Other Acts in the bundle granted financial autonomy to the State Houses of Assembly and the State Judiciaries (§121(3)), set a 30-day window for the President or a Governor to sign or veto a bill (§§58, 100), deleted the requirement that a person seeking elective office must have resigned from public office, and reorganised the legislative powers of the National Assembly in pre-election matters.
The bundle did not deliver everything devolutionists had pushed for — proposals on state police, local-government autonomy and devolution to the Concurrent List were defeated at the State Houses of Assembly. Those returned in the Fifth Alteration five years later.
The constituent Acts
- Act No. 1, 2017
Not-Too-Young-To-Run
Age reductions for elective office.
- Act No. 2, 2017
Independent Candidacy
Defeated at the State Houses of Assembly.
- Act No. 3, 2017
Authentication of bills
- Act No. 4, 2017
Restriction on tenure for elected office
Deemed-passed acts where the President fails to assent within 30 days.
- Act No. 5, 2017
Financial autonomy of State Houses of Assembly
§121(3).
- Act No. 6, 2017
Financial autonomy of State Judiciaries
- Act No. 7, 2017
Determination of pre-election matters
- Act No. 8, 2017
Investigative powers of the National Assembly
- Act No. 9, 2017
Independence of certain federal executive bodies
Sections altered
- §58 →
30-day window for Presidential assent; deemed-passed rule.
- §65 →
Senate age lowered from 35 to 30; House from 30 to 25.
- §100 →
30-day window for Gubernatorial assent at state level.
- §106 →
State Assembly age lowered from 30 to 25.
- §121 →
Financial autonomy: direct disbursement to State Houses of Assembly and State Judiciaries.
- §131 →
Presidential age lowered from 40 to 35.
- §177 →
Gubernatorial age lowered from 35 to 30.
- §285 →
Detailed timelines for pre-election matters (180 days at first instance, 60 days on appeal).
Notable cases
PDP v. INEC (2020)
(2020) LPELR-49528(SC)
The 180-day rule for pre-election matters under §285 begins from the date of filing of the originating process.
Tier 1 · primary
Courts. Gazettes. National archives.
Tier 2 · corroborating
OCCRP. HRW. BudgIT. TheCable.
Tier 4 · tertiary, flagged
Wikipedia only where primary is pending. Always labelled.