© Copyright 2009 – Abdulmumuni Oba - 69 - ‘NEITHER FISH NOR FOWL’: AREA COURTS IN THE ILORIN EMIRATE IN NORTHERN NIGERIA Abdulmumini A. Oba Introduction Law in Nigeria is a plural complex with the English style common law, Islamic law and the indigenous African law that goes under the name ‘native law and custom’ operating to various extents. This paper investigates the consequences for the Area Courts found in the Ilorin Emirate of northern Nigeria. Area Courts in northern Nigeria are the counterparts of southern Nigeria customary courts. They are the most heavily criticised of courts in Nigeria. They are frequently accused of incompetence, corruption, and arbitrariness (Odinkalu 1992). However, it is argued here that the basic problem with them, arising from the plural complex of laws in the country, is that they suffer from a crisis of identity; they are de jure secular courts but they are also historically and de facto ‘religious’ being Islamic courts. Though basically Islamic law courts, they partake of the other two laws. The paper investigates the crisis of identity facing the courts and the ways and manners this has contributed to their problems. While doing this, it also assesses the extent to which the charges of inadequacy levelled generally against Area Courts hold true regarding Area Courts in the Ilorin Emirate. It concludes with suggestions of ways of improving the administration of justice in the Area Courts in the emirate and in Northern Nigeria in general. The legal pluralism which is a prominent feature of the Nigerian legal system is fully represented in the Ilorin Emirate. The British colonial masters brought common law into Nigeria and into Ilorin following their conquest of the town in