An American man married to a Nigerian woman has gone viral after publicly lamenting his inability to obtain Nigerian citizenship, highlighting what he described as a glaring gender-based inequality in the country’s constitution.
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In a video that began trending on X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday, the man, visibly baffled, appealed to Nigerians for answers.
The couple, who are planning a long-term move to Nigeria, said they were researching residency and citizenship requirements when they stumbled upon a shocking discovery in the 1999 Constitution: while a Nigerian man can immediately sponsor his foreign wife for citizenship, a Nigerian woman’s foreign husband must live in Nigeria for 15 years before he becomes eligible to apply.
“I beg, Naija people, make una tell me, how do I become Nigerian?” the man asked at the beginning of the video. “I was doing some online research and discovered that according to the Nigerian constitution, a Nigerian man who marries a foreigner can immediately enable her to apply for citizenship. But if a Nigerian woman marries a foreigner, the man has to live in Nigeria for 15 years before he can even apply.”
His Nigerian wife, equally astonished, weighed in: “Yeah, it’s really funny because when we read about it, it says that if I, as a Nigerian woman, get married to a foreigner, the man cannot become Nigerian unless he has lived in Nigeria for 15 years. But if a Nigerian man marries a foreign woman, she can apply immediately. Make it make sense.”
Comparing the situation to U.S. immigration laws, the American husband added, “In my country, you can apply immediately. Why shouldn’t I be able to travel freely in and out [of Nigeria] without stress? I don’t think that’s right.”
Still struggling to accept the rule, his wife said, “I keep telling my husband maybe we just read the wrong information. It just doesn’t seem right.”
“I don’t know who has Tinubu’s DMs, his email, his social media. We should reach out about this. It’s not right,” the husband joked.
Their concerns have since ignited widespread debate online about the fairness of Nigeria’s citizenship laws.
Responding to the viral video, Hon. Akin Alabi, a federal lawmaker representing Egbeda/Ona Ara Constituency, criticized Section 26 of Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution, which allows a foreign woman married to a Nigerian man to apply for citizenship but offers no such privilege to a foreign man married to a Nigerian woman.
Alabi labeled the provision discriminatory and called for its amendment to grant equal rights to both men and women.
He wrote: “Section 26 of the 1999 Constitution lists the conditions under which individuals can become Nigerian citizens. One of them is ‘any woman who is or has been married to a citizen of Nigeria.’
“My opinion: This should be amended to ‘any person…’. My constitutional amendment bill on this just scaled second reading.
@thenigerialawyer“I Beg, Naija People”: American Man’s Viral Plea Exposes Nigeria’s Citizenship Bias — Foreign Wives Fast-Tracked, Husbands Wait 15 Years
“I believe that if we do not want to allow citizenship by marriage, that’s fine. But if we are doing it, it shouldn’t be one-sided. Men and women should have the equal right to pass citizenship to their spouses. This smacks of patriarchy and discrimination.”
Alabi further explained that while constitutional amendments are challenging — requiring the approval of 24 state Houses of Assembly — he is determined to see the bill through after a previous failed attempt during the 9th Assembly.
“We will continue to try,” he concluded.
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