A Philosophical Theory of Nigerian Constitutional Morality: Beyond Legalism Towards Substantive Democratic Ethics

This dissertation develops an original philosophical theory of Nigerian constitutional morality, arguing that the constitutional crisis of Nigerian democracy results not merely from legal deficiencies or institutional weakness but from the absence of a philosophically coherent constitutional morality, defined as a shared normative framework that renders constitutional obligations intrinsically rather than merely instrumentally binding. The concept of constitutional morality, associated with B.R. Ambedkar and Pratap Bhanu Mehta, has been applied to Indian democracy but never systematically developed for the Nigerian constitutional context, constituting the gap this dissertation addresses. A four-phase methodology is employed, combining systematic philosophical analysis of constitutional morality theory alongside African political philosophy; documentary analysis of Nigeria's constitutional history, court judgements, and constitutional conference debates from 1960 to 2024; empirical grounding through 85 interviews with constitutional scholars, civil society leaders, and political philosophers across all six geopolitical zones; and constructive philosophical synthesis. The dissertation proposes the Nigerian Constitutional Morality Framework as an original contribution, specifying that a sustainable Nigerian constitutional morality must satisfy four philosophical conditions: it must be grounded in indigenous African political values rather than wholly transplanted from external traditions; it must accommodate Nigeria's deep religious and ethnic plurality through overlapping moral consensus; it must institutionalise accountability as a moral rather than merely legal obligation; and it must embed a commitment to social justice as constitutionally fundamental. Keywords: constitutional morality, Nigerian democracy, political philosophy, constitutional ethics, African values.