In the sub-Saharan African region, referendums tend to be pivotal events in constitutional development. They hold out the prospect of greater human rights protections while revealing fundamental tensions between democratic aspirations of the people and vested power interests of the political elite. This article examines the 2016 constitutional referendum in...

Jungle justice, also known as mob justice, refers to the extrajudicial punishment of individuals suspected of crimes, often through public lynching or killings without lawful trial. In Nigeria, this practice has become a persistent plague within the justice system, reflecting both the failure of law enforcement agencies and the erosion...

There are justifications put forward for offences such as murder, theft, assault or robbery, however, the offence of rape stands apart. Black’s Law Dictionary describes rape as “the unlawful carnal knowledge of a woman by a man forcibly and against her will.” This definition reflects an older legal tradition, however...

Consensual sexual activity between adults of the same sex is criminalised in Nigeria. This stems from prevailing socio-cultural and religious beliefs that portray same-sex sexual relationships as unnatural, un- African, and morally reprehensible. Religious people would go further to regard it as demonic. It is on this basis that the...

For long there has been the idea that man has free will and that he exercises this free will to make his choices. Our criminal law systems are mostly designed in a way that deals with a freely choosing person. However, there are now findings that shows that this freewill...