The Constitution is always referred to as “the fons et origo” or “the grundnorm”. It is the law from which other laws derive their origin and validity. Nonlawyers, even some lawyers sometimes don’t fully appreciate what this really means or its gravity.
Section 1 of the constitution tries to capture in summary the extent of how powerful the Constitution is and the extent of its mighty jurisdiction.
(1) This Constitution is supreme and its provisions shall have binding force on the authorities and persons throughout the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
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(2) The Federal Republic of Nigeria shall not be governed, nor shall any persons or group of persons take control of the Government of Nigeria or any part thereof, except in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution.
(3) If any other law is inconsistent with the provisions of this Constitution, this Constitution shall prevail, and that other law shall, to the extent of the inconsistency, be void.
S 1(1) provides for the supremacy of the constitution, this means that the Constitution is high and above every person and authority, both the rulers and the ruled, the executives and the legislature, the judiciary, and every being that calls Nigeria home and foreigners that have anything to do with Nigeria is under the unwavering supremacy of the constitution.
The Constitution is so powerful that every other law must be made to be in conformity and consonance with the constitution if not the law will be declared void as provided in S 1(3).
Even those tired of being members or citizens of Nigeria and are seeking independence must do so in accordance with the constitution if not their action will be unconstitutional and they can be charged with treasonable felony.
Fons et origo is a Latin phrase that simply means the source and origin of something. This means that when the Constitution is referred to as the Fons et origo, we mean that the Constitution is the source or origin of the Nigerian state.
No person has the power to challenge any clause or section in the constitution. The court will reject a constitutional challenge at any time or any suit tending to challenge any Constitutional provision because the court does not even have the power or jurisdiction to entertain any suit challenging Constitutional provisions but courts have the jurisdiction and power to entertain suits on the ground that a particular law is in conflict with the Constitution and the court can enter a final judgment holding a statute unconstitutional.
A person can only approach the court to enforce his right or uphold his rights as provided by the Constitution and never to challenge any constitutional provision.
When the proper court determines that a legislative act or law conflicts with the constitution, it finds that law is unconstitutional and declares it void in whole or in part for contrary to or failing to comply with the constitution which is the grundnorm.
The term “grundnorm” is also used by constitutional lawyers to describe the country’s constitution which simply means that the constitution is the basic and the highest law of the land and no law must be contrary to its provisions i.e. every other law must be in conformity with the constitution to be valid.
Before a law is passed, i.e. an act of parliament, it’s first subjected to constitutional validity test. This test is to check whether any segment of the proposed bill is inconsistent with the constitution; every line, segment, clause, section, subsection, chapter of the bill are all subjected to this test if any clause in the bill does not pass the constitutional validity test it is quickly removed or amended to be in consonance with the constitution.
Any act of the executive which conflicts with the Constitution is quickly declared unconstitutional and thereby void and can not stand.
Everyone threads carefully so as not to offend the Constitution because offending the constitution is of high gravity; it is where other laws derive their origin and where the country derives Its status, therefore, the constitution is jealousy guided and protected not just by the judiciary but by every citizen who is part of the social contract.