AN APPRAISAL OF LEGAL PLURALISM IN THE ADMINISTRATION OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE IN NIGERIA

CHAPTER ONE

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

1.1         Background to the Study

The vast majority of people seem to believe that nation – states came into existence by mutual consent rather than by force.¹ The Preamble to the Nigerian Constitution lends credence to this fact by its statement that the people of Nigeria have firmly and solemnly resolved “to live in unity and harmony as an indivisible and indissoluble sovereign Nation under God…”³ This may, however, not be entirely correct as most Countries of the world, Nigeria inclusive, do not readily conform to such expectations. Even the so called great democracies manifest only a minimum sharing of common values. For a large part, the great majority of nations are maintained more by force than by mutual consent. This is particularly true of the colonized countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America where the principal unifying force has largely been colonial rule, which brought with it political and legal domination, and also economic integration.⁴

These emerging states are peculiarly heterogeneous in nature. Historical accidents, social and legal constituents distinguish them as pluralities of varying complexity and form. Each is internally divided into relatively distinctive ethnic groups which exhibit a remarkable array of distinct legal institutions, languages, religions, traditions, political organizations and historical experiences. Culturally and structurally, each is internally characterized by some fundamental differences and cleavages which are often sharp and persistent enough to threaten internal stability.⁵

It is, therefore, hardly surprising that the building of a single national community has been the guiding policy objective of the Nigeria‟s founding fathers. They had to face the crucial task of National development as a universal trend. They also had to commit themselves to wielding together their mélange of ethnic collectivities into a new and larger homogenous identity.⁶ For these nationalist leaders committed to the task of unity and common identity, the transformation of these plural segments and their disparate institutions was no simple job. ⁷ Nevertheless, the task was both desirable and essential.

Prior to colonial era, most of these nation-states existed as independent political entities. After the amalgamation by Lord Lugard in 1914, Nigeria became a country and administrative entity until federalism was introduced in 1954, through the creation of the regions along the lines of the three geographical entities, namely, the Northern Region, the Southern Region and the Eastern Region.⁸ In 1967, the regional arrangement was transformed by the creation of twelve States.⁹ After a series of States creations, the Federal Republic of Nigeria now consists of 36 (thirty-six) States and a Federal Capital Territory (Abuja).¹⁰

Nigeria as a country is presently comprised of over 250 (two hundred and fifty) nation-states embracing various ethnic and linguistic groups.¹¹ These ethnic groups spread across the six main geo-political zones in the Country, namely, the North-West, the North-East, North-Central, the South-West, the South-East and the South-South. This has been held to make Nigeria one of the world‟s most populous and ethnically diverse Countries.¹²

Again, Nigeria is a Federation with three tiers of government namely, the Federal, the State and the Local governments, having or sharing legislative competence over different aspects of substantive and procedural laws.¹³ Similarly, each of the three defunct regions had distinct and similar laws, though in many aspects, they exhibit important differences especially in matters pertaining to the administration of criminal justice. This is of significance in the Nigerian legal system. The creation of States has not completely obliterated the significance of the three original regions in Nigeria.¹⁴ The laws applicable in the states grew out of the laws of the former regions.By and large, legal pluralism has been the feature of law in Nigeria‟s Criminal Justice Administration. Apart from Islamic Criminal law which has been in the Country since the 11^th Century, there is the English – styled criminal law otherwise known as the general criminal law, comprising of the Penal Code System and the Criminal Code System. These three types of laws correspond broadly, though not exactly, to the three religious groupings, namely, Islam, Christianity and traditional religion.¹⁵ These have not co-existed in harmony and the experience has been one of tensions and conflicts. As Ladan rightly observed “the introduction of British Laws in Nigeria to co-exist with Islamic Law and the indigenous system of customary law has produced a tripartite system of law and that it is this type of multiple system of law that is often referred to as legal pluralism.”