My host mother in Ogidi is a Customary Court judge. She is the President of the Okpanam District Customary Court. Customary law is one of several Nigerian legal systems. It is described as deriving from indigenous customs, traditions, and practices (as opposed to being a British import). Okpanam is a town sitting just north-west of the city of Asaba, across the River Niger from Onitsha. I attended this court twice this month to witness a small sample of Nigerian law as it is practiced today. This court was built in the 1850s. Yes, this same structure has been standing for over 150 years! The British constructed this building to serve as what was then called a Native Court. Yes, the original mud walls have been since reinforced with concrete, the original thatch roof has been replaced with iron, and the inside has been remodeled.
Witness box (far left), dock for the accused in criminal cases...yes, very British (front middle), judges' bench (back middle), door leading to judges' office (back right), a lawyer preparing for the case (left), and a clerk organizing papers (back middle)
It is one thing to read about trial transcripts from the National Archive for Native Court cases of the early twentieth century, but it is another thing to sit on a bench in the back of the court room where these Native Court cases transpired so many years ago. Obviously, things have changed since the time period that I study (late nineteenth to mid-twentieth century). The physical courthouse has changed, but so have the laws and the manner of litigating. Some laws remain from the colonial period and some laws reflect what is referred to as native custom. I call it indigenous law. I don’t understand why English common law is called law but indigenous Igbo law is called custom or tradition. It is part of the legacy of the colonial assertion that European is superior to African, English superior to Igbo. That assertion – clearly false – seems to hold weight even today. Most Nigerians I have talked to do not refer to the indigenous law of the precolonial era as a judicial system but as a set of non-judicial traditions or customs.
Judges at their bench
Lawyers and court clerks
However, I still say that law is law. Law can take many forms, and the shape and nature of law in Ogidi, from before the arrival of white people until Nigerian independence, is what interests me most. That is all I will say about my research for now. My point here is to show you how cool my experience at a customary court in Igboland was. I have yet to attend any cases at the Ogidi Customary Court, but I will share that when I do. For now, enjoy these photos of the Okpanam Customary Court and of the traffic on the road leading to the courthouse.
Me leaning against the dock, the "penalty box" of British and British-influenced criminal court cases
In front of the courthouse
Kekes in Delta State, where Asaba and Okpanam are located, are painted blue
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