Chapter VII
Establishes the courts, their composition and their jurisdiction — the structure a case moves through.
Section by section
Each section is shown twice over: what the section is and where its text lives, beside our plain-language explanation of it.
Official text
Section 214 · Chapter VII
We do not reproduce the wording. Read section 214 in the official text of the Constitution as amended.
Plain language — our explanation
Establishes the Nigeria Police Force as the police force for Nigeria, and provides that no other police force shall be established for the Federation or any part of it except as the section allows.
Official text
Section 232 · Chapter VII
We do not reproduce the wording. Read section 232 in the official text of the Constitution as amended.
Plain language — our explanation
Gives the Supreme Court original jurisdiction in disputes between the Federation and a state, or between states, where the dispute involves a question of law or fact on which the existence of a legal right depends. It is why some constitutional disputes begin at the top instead of working their way up.
Official text
Section 251 · Chapter VII
We do not reproduce the wording. Read section 251 in the official text of the Constitution as amended.
Plain language — our explanation
Lists the matters over which the Federal High Court has exclusive jurisdiction, including much of revenue, company, admiralty, banking and federal agency litigation. Filing in the wrong court is one of the most common and most expensive procedural mistakes.
Official text
Section 285 · Chapter VII
We do not reproduce the wording. Read section 285 in the official text of the Constitution as amended.
Plain language — our explanation
Establishes election petition tribunals and sets strict limits on the time within which petitions must be filed and determined. Those limits are constitutional, and a court has no power to extend them.
Read the words
Nothing here reproduces the operative text. Every section is shown as two panes — what the section is, and our plain-language explanation of it — so the two can never be mistaken for each other. The Constitution has also been altered several times since 1999.
Where the precise wording matters — and in a constitutional argument it always does — read the official text of the Constitution as amended, and take advice on how the courts have interpreted the provision you are relying on.
Track the alterations and amendments