By Henry Umahi
On April 22, 2026, the Nigerian legal community converged at the Justice I.A. Umezuluike Auditorium, High Court Complex, Independence Layout, Enugu, for the formal presentation of the maiden edition of the Nigerian Customary Courts of Appeal Law Reports, which are deemed critical tools of trade and the cornerstone of legal practice, providing necessary authority for judicial precedent, consistency, and stability in the justice system.
In his welcome address, Prof Agu Gab Agu, Editor-in-Chief, Renaissance Law Publications Ltd, publishers of the book, noted that the assemblage of eminent men and women present to witness the birth of the publication is a testament to the need for and expectations of the journal.
Prof. Agu said: The Nigerian Customary Courts of Appeal Law Reports publication represents a significant milestone in the continued development, preservation, and systematic reporting of judicial decisions emanating from the Customary Courts of Appeal in Nigeria. The Reports are intended to serve as authoritative compendium precedents in Customary Law jurisprudence and to provide an invaluable guidance for judicial officers, legal practitioners, scholars and students engaged in the study and application of Nigerian Customary Laws.
“We are embarking on this venture with the resolve to faithfully compile and present the pronouncements of our Customary Courts of Appeal, thereby contributing to the growth, clarity and accessibility of Customary Law in Nigeria. Despite the enormity of the task, we remain steadfast in our resolve to serve the Bench, Bar, the Courts of Appeal and the Supreme Court.
“It is our hope that this publication will from time to time, also provide thoughtful restatements of customary law as they evolve through the appellate courts, including the Courts of Appeal and the Supreme Court.”
The review of the publication was done by Hon. Justice George C. Nnamani, President, Customary Court of Appeal, Enugu State. His words were Shakespeare-llike. He used English language in a way that was profoundly memorable, descriptive, and sometimes, inventive.
Describing the publication as an “intellectual delicacy,” the erudite judge admitted: “My appetite was instantly whetted by the array of academic chefs in the kitchen – the editorial board. I didn’t need to be told that selection of condiments and seasoning would reflect culinary expertise.”
According to him, from 1916 when the Nigerian Law Reports (NLR) debuted, covering judicial decisions from 1881 to 1955, right through 1985 when Chief Gani Fawehinmi revolutionized the system with his Nigerian Weekly Law Reports (NWLR), there had been no looking back in the business of law reporting.
He said: “Today, law reports of various classifications dot the legal education landscape, trumpeting the sophistication of our justice delivery system. What is more, law
reporting had since gone digital and can only get more sophisticated in tune with literary exigency and electronic dynamism.”
Before delving into the review proper, Justice Nnamani had a sentence for the Editor-in- Chief:
“His zeal for pedagogy is insatiable, his search for knowledge, endless. His determination to extend the frontiers of legal education is illimitable, his drive for its consolidation, fast and furious. He stamps his large feet on the sandy soil of legal knowledge with the fetal impact of the giant that he is!
“What more can I say concerning a courtroom militant, an egghead, nay, an academic generalissimo who bestrides the legal landscape like a colossus! What more can I say concerning a man who juggles law and legal literature as deftly and spectacularly as Jay Jay Okocha juggled football! What more can I say about Professor Agu Gab Agu that you do not already know? And so, I rest my case on the amiable, amicable, indefatigable and illimitably resourceful Professor Agu Gab Agu, the ‘chef de cuisine’ of Nigerian Customary Courts of Appeal Law Reports.”
The reviewer said that the Nigerian Customary Courts of Appeal Law Reports (NCCALR) came into being at a most auspicious time of national attention to and interest in Customary Law jurisprudence, stressing that it would be warmly received by a wide spectrum of law students, lawyers, judges and researchers in Nigeria. So, he suggested that its distributional tentacles should be extend to other English speaking West African countries where exchange and cross-fertilization of jurisprudential ideas are already emerging in the arena of Customary Law.
NCCALR is, therefore, a welcome addition to pre-existing Law Reports on the law reporting landscape structured on Customary Law judgments. Its coast can only widen as the ongoing constitutional amendments will, *deus volente*, expand the jurisdictional horizon of the Customary Court of Appeal to encompass chieftaincy and allied cases.
Going into the nitty gritty of the publication as he called it, Nnamani disclosed that this maiden edition is made up nine judgments showcasing “intriguing cases” carefully selected from different states of the federation such as Imo, Enugu, Ebonyi, and Delta. “The areas of customary law covered by the different judgments are varied and topical. The impacts of the emergent legal principles, statements and restatements of substantive and procedural law, postulations and notable pronouncements are as punchy as they come.
“To wax specific, the reports deal with a myriad of issues one of which is procedural jurisdiction. There is the recurrent issue of improper constitution of a Customary Court whilst hearing and determining a case and the inexorable fatal consequence of the procedural misstep. Allied to this is the issue of plea. Does the taking of plea as a foundation for the hearing of a case have in the Customary Court judicial system the same importance it commands in superior courts of record? Can the ‘sui generis’ nature of the Customary Court extend its permissive tentacles to such procedural transgressions as failure to take plea in a trial? A copy of the Law Reports is all you need to know the answer.
“One of the judgments came out gun-ablazing. The issue in contention was the propriety of abridgement of the territorial jurisdiction of the Customary Courts of Ebonyi State by an Executive Order issuing from the governor of the state.” According to him, the court exhaustively and lucidly determined the issue of the jurisdiction of the Customary Courts in Land Causes and Matters vis a vis the Executive Order 1 (supra).
“One of the cases in the Law Reports, Amuche Ogbodo v Samuel Ogbodo, raised an issue needing urgent legislative attention. As the Customary Court of Appeal Enugu State put it in that case: ‘This case, it is right to say, underscores the emerging need for a law establishing a Registry of Customary Marriages in every State of the Federation of Nigeria for the purpose of registration of customary marriages and issuance of customary marriage certificates to couples married under native law and custom. Such a certificate, signed by (1) the parents of the couple or persons standing *in loco parentis* to the bride, (2) the couple, (3) witnesses, and (4) the Registrar of Customary Marriages, will, like the marriage certificate under the Matrimonial Causes Act, serve as proof of such a marriage. With that, proof of customary marriage where, for example, the marriage is disputed and witnesses are dead, will not present to the petitioner a rocket science or mission impossible. The need for this paradigm shift from the oral to the documentary mode of proof of customary law marriage has become obvious as oral evidence of witnesses cannot continue to be the only mode of proof of a fact as important as a customary marriage in our changing world. Society and law are dynamic, and customary law is not an exception to the dynamism.’
“From Imo State emerged the position of Customary Law on whether a maternal son or grandson can inherit land or property as against the interest of his maternal fathers and uncles.”
In conclusion, Justice Nnamani stated that “the Nigerian Customary Court of Appeal Law Reports is, no doubt, a loud announcement of the entrenchment of Customary Law in our legal soil. The cover design is simple, yet outstanding. The prints are legible and reader-friendly in font size. The citations, case titles, catchwords/keywords, headnotes, ratio decidendi, are clearly set out.
“There is, nevertheless, the need to paginate the ratios of the judgments for easy identification by readers. Secondly, buyers prefer to see the catchwords, that is, the keywords highlighting the main legal issues in the respective judgments, succinctly set out on the front covers of the law reports.
“There is also the need, in subsequent editions, volumes or parts, to widen its horizon to include more courts across the Federation for inclusivity. There are, today, twenty-two States (the Federal Capital Territory, FCT inclusive) having the Customary Court of Appeal with more States at different stages of preparation for establishment of the Court.
“As time goes on and as readers reciprocate the Publisher’s gesture in sustained patronage, room should be made for electronic version of the work for online purchasers. The benefits of digitization in our fast changing world are endless.”
He urged “all stakeholders in the administration of justice, to embrace this publication with the firmness of the arms of young lovers.”
Many agree that the publication was well-thought out and exhaustively researched.
