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Supreme Court · 2000
What is the status in Nigerian law of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, as domesticated by statute?
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This decision is reported in the Nigerian law reports. Locate it by its case name in a law report series or through the court's own record, and read the judgment before relying on it.
The question the court actually had to answer. Everything a judgment settles flows from this, and nothing beyond it does.
What is the status in Nigerian law of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, as domesticated by statute?
A challenge to a detention relied on the African Charter, which had been domesticated in Nigeria by an Act of the National Assembly.
The question was what force that instrument has in Nigerian courts, and how it stands against the Constitution and other legislation.
The Supreme Court held that the domesticated Charter is part of Nigerian law and its provisions are enforceable in Nigerian courts.
It is, however, an Act of the National Assembly, and the Constitution remains supreme over it.
Stated narrowly, as the case is genuinely cited for — not stretched into the broader proposition it is often summarised as.
A treaty domesticated by statute is enforceable in Nigerian courts as part of Nigerian law, but it does not displace the Constitution.
Our explanation of what the decision means for an ordinary reader. It is not the judgment.
A treaty Nigeria signs does not become Nigerian law by itself — the National Assembly has to enact it. Once it does, courts here will apply it.
The African Charter has been enacted here, so you can rely on it in a Nigerian court. But if it ever conflicts with the Constitution, the Constitution wins.
The part most summaries leave out, and the part that most often causes a case to be cited for something it never decided.
Named generally. Read the official text of any instrument you intend to rely on.
This decision is reported in the Nigerian law reports. Locate it by its case name in a law report series or through the court's own record, and read the judgment before relying on it.
Subject area: Human Rights