Benin City, Edo State
For more than three decades, lawyers, judges and lawmakers in Edo State have had to rely on legal codes bearing the name of a state that no longer exists. That changed this week, as the Edo State House of Assembly passed a bill to produce a revised, complete compendium of the state’s own laws; the first of its kind since Edo was carved out of the old Bendel State in 1991.
The bill, an executive proposal transmitted by Governor Monday Okpebholo, now awaits the governor’s assent. It follows months of work by the Edo State Law Reform Commission, chaired by Donald Esikhena, Esquire.
A 50-year-old precedent
Speaking during debate on the floor of the House, the member representing Ovia North-East 1, Hon. Charity Aiguobarueghian, put the moment in historical perspective, noting that the last comparable legal codification exercise took place in 1976, before many members of the current Assembly were even born.
“In Edo we refer to our laws as Laws of Bendel State, applicable in Edo and Delta,” Aiguobarueghian said. “Mr. Speaker, it’s no longer applicable in Delta, because Delta State now has its own laws.”
That distinction, that Edo has continued to lean on a legal framework Delta State, its twin from the Bendel-era split, has since moved on from, became a recurring theme throughout the debate.
The research problem
For Hon. Marie Edeko, representing Esan North-East 2, the absence of an Edo-specific compendium had been a practical, everyday obstacle. She recalled struggling to find clear legal provisions on the rights of widows in Edo State.
“You have to go to Google search. You will be seeing the laws of other states, but not Edo,” Edeko said. “When we have a compendium of laws, it makes research easier.”
A revenue angle, too
Beyond ease of access, Hon. Donald Okogbe, representing Akoko-Edo 1, pointed to an economic upside for government coffers. Tying the bill to recent conversations in the House about revenue generation, he noted that legal practitioners across the state would need to purchase copies for their chambers.
“The passage of this law will also generate more revenue for the government, because every lawyer in Edo State will buy a copy in their chambers,” Okogbe said.
Guarding against overreach
Not every contribution was without caution. Hon. Ade Isibor, representing Esan North-East 1, while backing the bill, moved to clarify the limits of the Law Reform Commission’s role, stressing that the exercise does not shift law-making powers away from the Assembly.
“This is not the House of Assembly transferring the law-making powers to the Commission,” Isibor said. “It’s the Commission putting together all the laws made by the House of Assembly and codifying it into a document, not amending any law.”
The bill was passed after a clause-by-clause consideration on the floor of the House.
“A watershed” — Attorney General
For the state’s Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Professor Roland Otaru, the passage of the bill marks a defining moment in Edo’s legal history, one he credited directly to the governor.
“Today marks a watershed in the history of Edo State,” Otaru said. “I’m saying this because Governor Monday Okpebholo has made the impossible possible. Delta State has revised their laws up to twice, but Edo State has not been able to, up until now. Today, the House of Assembly rose up to the occasion, and today the laws of Edo State are being birthed.”
Otaru invoked a well-known legal maxim to underline the significance of the moment, citing Lord Denning, quoted as saying: “God forbid that a lawyer knows all the laws, but a good lawyer will always know where to find the law.”
“So lawyers in Edo State, in Nigeria and all over the world; judges, justices, and even politicians, will know where to find the laws of Edo State,” Otaru said. “Before now, the laws of Edo State were in pieces. But today, that is a thing of the past.”
What changes for lawyers, lawmakers
Commission Chairman Donald Esikhena said the compendium will simplify legal practice at every level, from courtroom arguments to the drafting of new legislation.
“Any legal practitioner in Edo State today could easily go to court and come up with one of the volumes and speak to the laws the way it is,” Esikhena said. He added that the benefit extends beyond lawyers: lawmakers themselves will be able to consult the compendium whenever a new bill overlaps with existing law. “The easiest way to do it is by making reference to the compendium of laws that has just been brought into existence.”
What’s next
The bill now moves to Governor Okpebholo’s desk for assent. Once signed into law, copies of the compendium are expected to be made available to legal practitioners and members of the public, closing out a 35-year gap in which Edo State’s legal identity remained tied to a state dissolved in 1991.