Judicial Review is the power of the courts to consider and if necessary overturn the acts of the executive,legislature and the states if the courts believes such acts violates,infringes or transgresses the Constitution of Nigeria.Which said constitution is the Vade Mecum of all Nigeria's laws.

Judicial Review was first asserted by a former American Chief Justice, John Marshal in the globally celebrated case of Marbury V Madison. In that case the United States Supreme Court struck down an act of the United States Congress for being inconsistent with the United States Constitution. Alexander Hamilton a reverred American lawyer and political Philosopher in his efforts to persuade the people of New York to ratify the United States Constitution wrote "There is no position  which depends on clearer principles,than that every act of a delegated authority,contrary to the tenor of the commissioner under which it is exercised is void.No legislative act[executive],therefore contrary to the constitution can be valid.To deny this,would be to affirm that the deputy is greater than his principal.

That the servant is above his master,that the representatives of the people are are superior to the people themselves;that men acting by virtue of powers,may do,not only what their powers do not authorise,but what they forbid." Still in the same writing of the great Alexander Hamilton otherwise referred to as the Federalist 78,the great thinker further wrote "The interpretation of the laws is the proper and peculiar province of the courts. A constitution is,in fact and must be regarded by the judges,as a fundamental law. It therefore belongs to them to ascertain its meaning,as well as the meaning of any particular act proceeding from the legislative[executive] body.If there should happen to be an irreconcillable variance between the two,that which has the superior obligation and validity ought,of course to be preferred,or in other words,the constitution ought to be preferred to the statutue,the intention of the people to the intention of their agents."

Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo entered an entente with  his Camerounian counterpart to expurgate and ostracise  Nigeria's sovereign Bakassi Peninsula territory to Cameroun.
Contrary to the requirement of the Nigerian Constitution the said treaty has not been ratified by the Nigerian Senate. However the Nigerian President has set up a high powered body to enforce the said treaty. Nigerians all over the world have cried out over the unconstitutionality and illegality of this executive arbitrariness and lawlessness to no avail. The Bakassi people have now gone to court as the last bastion of hope and justice. Ideally the judiciary is a repository of  wisdom,understanding and insight.The ball is now where it should be. The Bakassi people have decided to act within the norms of civilisation and decency. They have chosen not to take the laws into their hands but to seek legal redress. Nigerians the world over must be interested in this opening legal combat.

Apart from the basic fact that Judicial Review of governmental action is imperative an exigent the need for a  Judicial Review of the Bakassi expurgation and ostracisation treaty need not be over emphasised. Should the Nigerian Government be allowed to cede away Nigeria's sovereign territory without a constitutionally required endorsement,ratification and assent of the Nigerian Senate? Is it proper, legal and constitutional for the Nigerian Senate to be so loudly,naively,meekly,humbly(some say)ignorantly and suspiciously silent and weak knee-ed and docile when the noble and highly exalted congregation of some of Nigeria's supposedly wisest and brightest men is being publicly humiliated and relegated?When the constitution which gives the Senators legitimacy is being so shamelessly abused and desecratated. Are the people of Bakassi entitled to a legal standing legallistically speaking to invoke the court's jurisdiction? Has the Nigerian court, jurisdiction to review a treaty entered by Nigeria's President to cede the Nigerian territory of Bakassi  to Cameroun? What happens if the court finds in favour of the Bakassi people?

What happens if the courts finds in favour of the Nigerian Federal Government? Considering the unfolding scenario from Alexander Hamilton's perspective,The   Executive branch of the Federal tier of Government is an Agent,Operator,Executor or Worker of the people of Nigeria. The law of Agency is concerned with any Principal- Agent relationship.A relationship in which one person has legal authority to act for another. The law of Agency is based on the Latin Maxim QUI FACIT PER ALIUM,FACIT PER SE.Which means, He who acts through another is deemed in law to do it himself. An Agent cannot be greater than his Principal or Headmaster. An Agent can only exercise the powers delegated to him by the Principal. An Agent is answerable to his Principal or Headmaster. An Agent cannot exercise powers that he has not received from his Principal.

In the instant case the Judicial branch of Nigeria's Federal tier of Government represent and symbolises the Principal status of the Nigerian people. It is now judgment day. The day of reckoning is here. Did the Agent act outside the powers delegated to him by the Principal? Did the Agent act within his lawful and or constitutional powers? Did the Agent act BONA FIDE meaning in good faith  Government is a Social Contract. The most famous of the legion of Political Philosophers that developed the Social Contract theory of Government are John Locke 1689,Thomas Hobbe 1651,Jean Jacques Rousseau 1762.The theory says those who govern receives the power and authority to govern from the people.

Those who are governed, voluntarily submits and yields themselves to the overriding authority of an institution they have willingly created for convenience to help run their collective affairs,based on the Constitution,not the whims and caprice of any man. The government must be pliable and malleable to the desires of the people. The Social Contract theory explains the justification and purpose of the state and of Human Rights.According to Hobbes theory the essence of Social Contract is that without organised government we would live in a state of nature,where we each have unlimited natural freedoms.The inhrent problem with this totally autonomous state is that it includes the right to do whatever one wants to do and thus grants the freedom to harm all or any who threaten one's self preservation.It would be a state of BELLUM OMNIUM CONTRA OMNES(war of all against all). To avoid this we unanimously agree to enter a Social Contract to acquire civil rights for accepting the obligation to honour the rights of others,giving up some freedom in the process. The authority or body we create to to represent our joint interest,to whom we delegate our powers is the Government or State.Thus, the State is an Agent while WE THE PEOPLE are the Principal.    The rules and provisions of this sacred, profound and noble contract are enshrined in a document known as the Constitution.

A constitution is a system,often codified in a written document,which establishes the rules and principles by which an organisation or a country is governed.A constitution defines the fundamental political principles by which a country is governed and establishes the power and duties of each governmental tier or branch.Generally National Constitutions often guarantee fundamental rights of the people.  The Constitution is a Vade Mecum. Vade mecum is latin meaning a document for guidance constantly kept at hand. The constitution is known as the Grund Norm Some say the people themselves are the Grund Norm The Grund Norm is the source of all the laws of the land. Grund Norm is a German word for basic norm,it was created by a German Jurist and Philosopher Hans Kelson,who used the word to denote the basic norm,or rule that  forms an underlying basis for a legal system.His theory is based on the need to find a point of origin for all laws,on which all basic laws in a country can gain legitimacy 

The Constitution is inviolable. The Constitution must not be whimsically amended or breached.
The Constitution is sacred and its sanctity must be honoured by all. The polity thrives in crisis and the constitution brings order to that crisis. It is the sacred duty of the Judiciary to interpret the constitution . It is also the profound jurisdiction and domain of the judiciary to review every action of the State as an Agent of the Principal, that is ,the People ,based on the principles enshrined in the  Vade Mecum, that is the Constitution.
 
 
              ANTHONY OKOSUN WRITES FROM THE U.S.A