1. INTRODUCTION
The Customary Court of the Federal Capital Territory (CC-FCT) was established by the instrumentality of the Federal Capital Territory Customary Court Act, 2007. The commencement date of the Act was 28th May, 2007 when the then President Olusegun Obasanjo, (GCFR) assented to it. This brief work shall explore the scope of the jurisdictional competence of the Court as well the limit of the court’s jurisdiction in both criminal and civil matters.

2. STATUTORY JURISDICTION(SCOPE)
The jurisdiction of the court is as provided under section 14 of the Act., which provides thus:

‘’A customary Court shall have jurisdiction over all persons within the territorial limits of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja who submit to the jurisdiction of the Court’

Extrapolating from the above law, it is discernible that the Court can only exercise jurisdiction (civil or criminal) over people who:

a. Are within the territorial limits of FCT.
b. Submit to the jurisdiction of the Court.

It therefore follows that people who are outside FCT, Abuja are by no stretch of legal imagination amenable to the jurisdiction of the Court. This is quite understandable based on the trite principle of territorial nature of every court’s jurisdiction. Apart from the issue of the fact that the subject of court’s jurisdiction must be within the territorial limits of FCT, a party must also have submitted to the jurisdiction for the court to exercise such a jurisdiction. This means that the court cannot exercise jurisdiction over a party who refuses to submit to its jurisdiction since his or her consent is sine qua non to for the court to be bequeathed with requisite powers to adjudicate over the party in issue.

3. JURISDICTIONAL LIMIT
The Act also provided under section 14(2) that ‘ A customary Court shall have and exercise jurisdiction over causes and matters set out in the Schedule to the Act’’. The schedule to the Act is divided into part 1 and 2. While part 1 covers civil causes, part 2 covers criminal causes. We shall discuss them serially hereunder.

3(a) Civil Juridction
The Civil jurisdiction of the CCFCT according to the Part 1 of the Schedule is outlined as follows:
1. Matrimonial causes and matters between persons married under customary law or arising from or connected with a union contracted under customary Law other than those arising from or connected with a Christian marriage or marriage under Islamic Law as defined in section 1 of the Criminal Code Act. (Unlimited for Grade A, B and C)

2. Suits relating to the custody of children and guardianship of
children under customary law (Unlimited for Grade A, B and C)

3. Civil causes and matters including bye-laws where the debt, demand including dowry, bride price or damages do not exceed the amounts specified in the respective columns hereof. (Unlimited for Grade A, N200,000 for Grade B and N1000,000 for Grade C)
4. Causes and matters relating to succession to property and administration of estate under customary law where the value of the property does not exceed the amounts specified in the respective columns hereof. (Unlimited for Grade A and B, N100,000 for Grade C)

5. Civil causes and matters under any law (other than customary law) including bye-laws where the amount of debt, demand or damages does not exceed the amount indicated in the column thereof. (Unlimited for Grade A and B, N100,000 for Grade C)

3.b Criminal Jurisdiction of the CC-FCT
Furthermore, the Act provides under part 2 of the Schedule that the criminal jurisdiction of the CCFCT is in the following offences

a. Contempt of court committed in the face of the Court.
b. Cases where criminal jurisdiction is conferred on the Court by this Act.
c. Statutory offences as may be provided in any other law or bye-law, where jurisdiction is specifically conferred on the Court.

The above are the three instances where the criminal jurisdiction of the CC-FCT is exercisable.

4. COMMENTS/CONCLUSION

The Act establishing the Court appears weak in the sense that submission to jurisdiction is optional. This may appear justifiable in the sense that not all inhabitants of FCT are actually subject to the customs of Gbagyi people who are the inhabitants of FCT (if we shall interpret the customs to mean the custom obtainable in the territory of FCT). To approach the CC-FCT to dissolve a marriage contracted under the Urhobo, Uromi, Ikom, Abiriba or Ijesha native law and custom raises many questions as to the place of contracting the marriage, the custom of the parties and even the question of how knowledgeable are the judge presiding over the matter in those respective customs. Another far-reaching implication of the submission issue in jurisdiction means that any party sued to the court can just frustrate the proceeding by informing the court that it does not subscribe to the jurisdiction of the court. If all litigants should be aware of this and should they also be willing to the path of non-submission, the court will be turned to a judicial setting prone to frustration at the whims and caprices of citizens. However, while some litigants may not be aware of the option of non-submission (unless a lawyer alerts them), others, even when they become aware, are still desirous of defending the actions against them in that court. At that point, it is an issue of waiver and that bars such party from asserting otherwise should the gavel kiss the mallet to his disfavour.

Hyginus Ibega Esq
Sure Path Attorneys, Abuja
He can be reached through: ibegahym@yahoo.com

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