Judiciary
Conflicting Supreme Court Judgments in Nigeria: Anatomy of a Judicial Crisis
Conflicting Supreme Court Judgments in Nigeria: Anatomy of a Judicial Crisis Abstract The Supreme Court of Nigeria stands as the apex judicial body, constitutionally empowered as the final court of appeal whose decisions are binding on all authorities and persons throughout the federation. Yet in recent years, a troubling phenomenon has emerged with increasing frequency: conflicting judgments emanating from the Supreme Court itself, as well as divergent interpretations of its decisions by lower courts, litigants, […]
Admissibility of Unregistered Land Instruments in Nigeria: 2018-2025 Rulings
THE ‘SELF-CONTRADICTING’ LAND LAW RULINGS (2018, 2020, 2025): A JURISPRUDENTIAL ANALYSIS OF THE ADMISSIBILITY OF UNREGISTERED REGISTRABLE LAND INSTRUMENTS IN NIGERIA ABSTRACT For several years, the Nigerian legal landscape was marked by profound uncertainty over a seemingly straightforward question of evidence: is an unregistered registrable land instrument admissible in court? The confusion stemmed from two diametrically opposed decisions of the Supreme Court delivered within a two-year span, Benjamin v. Kalio (2018) and Abdullahi v. Adetutu (2020). The former, […]
DECONSTRUCTING THE SUPREME COURT OF NIGERIA’S CONTRADICTORY RULING IN FRN V. NNAMDI KANU (2023)
THE LEGAL CORPSE THAT REFUSED TO DIE: DECONSTRUCTING THE SUPREME COURT OF NIGERIA’S CONTRADICTORY RULING IN FRN V. NNAMDI KANU (2023) ABSTRACT The Supreme Court of Nigeria delivered a judgment on 15 December 2023 in the case of Federal Republic of Nigeria v. Nnamdi Kanu, which has since generated intense jurisprudential controversy. The apex court acknowledged that the Terrorism (Prevention) (Amendment) Act 2013 (TPAA 2013), the statutory foundation for the prosecution, had been repealed by the […]