Internal Conflicts of Laws

Since Nigeria is a country which has different sources of law where only local legislation is expressly stated to be above the others, it is almost impossible that there would be no conflict of laws. If a couple who had gotten married under customary law suddenly realize that they do not enjoy the same status of husband and wife under general law, it may be cause for panic. The different other situations like this one which could arise calls for special rules to know when customary law is applicable and which customary law is applicable with the existence of more than one.

While it is true that customary law in invalid if it contradicts a local legislation, in some cases a local legislation may provide for customary law as an alternative. The conflict is therefore more often with English laws and between two customary laws.

Different laws use different wordings to refer to parties likely to be involved in conflict cases. While the former Western region uses “Nigerians”, the former eastern region uses “descendants of Nigerians”, while the former northern region uses “natives” which has been broadly defined as persons who parent or parents was a member or were members of a tribe or tribes indigenous to any part of Africa and the descendants of such persons. Since it is not our concern the advantages or the disadvantages of the wide or narrow definition, the use of Nigerians and Non-Nigerians shall be adopted.