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Supreme Court · 2002
May the National Assembly enact anti-corruption legislation that operates throughout the Federation, including within the states?
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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.
May the National Assembly enact anti-corruption legislation that operates throughout the Federation, including within the states?
A state challenged the validity of federal anti-corruption legislation and its application within the states, as a matter said to belong to the states.
The action was brought in the Supreme Court's original jurisdiction over disputes between a state and the Federation.
The Supreme Court upheld the legislation and its application throughout the Federation.
It reasoned from the Constitution's own provisions on the abolition of corrupt practices and the legislative powers the Constitution confers.
Stated narrowly, as the case is genuinely cited for — not stretched into the broader proposition it is often summarised as.
Federal anti-corruption legislation validly operates throughout the Federation, states included, where the Constitution supports the competence.
Our explanation of what the decision means for an ordinary reader. It is not the judgment.
Nigeria is a federation, so who can make a law about what is a live and recurring question. Here the Supreme Court confirmed that federal anti-corruption law reaches into the states.
The wider lesson is the method: you answer a question about legislative power by going to the legislative lists and the specific provisions of the Constitution, not by intuition about what feels state or federal.
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: The Constitution