Lagos Moves To Hold National Assembly In Contempt For Defying Apex Court Ruling On Lottery Regulation

Lagos State has approached the Supreme Court seeking leave to commence contempt proceedings against the National Assembly over its continued move to pass the Central Gaming Bill, despite a subsisting judgment of the apex court declaring such legislation unconstitutional.

In a motion filed on behalf of the Attorney-General of Lagos State by Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Bode Olanipekun, the state is seeking the Supreme Court’s leave to initiate judgment enforcement proceedings through the issuance of Form 48—a legal step that precedes the commencement of committal or contempt proceedings.

Under Nigerian law, the issuance of Form 48 serves as a formal warning to any person or body in contempt of court, and failure to purge the contempt after its issuance may result in committal to prison.

According to the affidavit filed in support of the motion, Lagos State contended that the National Assembly’s ongoing work on the Central Gaming Bill directly contravenes the Supreme Court’s judgment in SC.1/2008 – Attorney-General of Lagos State & Ors. v. Attorney-General of the Federation & Ors., delivered on November 22, 2024.

The state argued that clauses 7 and 21–64 of the proposed Bill relate entirely to lottery and gaming — subjects which the Supreme Court had already ruled fall outside the legislative competence of the National Assembly.

It noted that these provisions effectively replicate those contained in the now-nullified National Lottery Act, which was struck down by the Supreme Court in the same 2024 judgment.

Lagos further submitted that both the nullified National Lottery Act and the Central Gaming Bill define “lottery” and “online gaming” in identical terms — as any game, scheme, arrangement, system, plan, or promotional competition based on chance, skill and chance, or sporting outcomes, which requires a licence to operate.

The affidavit stressed that despite the apex court’s 2024 ruling invalidating the National Lottery Act, Clause 62 of the Central Gaming Bill introduces “savings provisions” intended to revalidate actions taken under the voided law, thereby amounting to a direct defiance of the Supreme Court’s authority.

Lagos also pointed out that since the Supreme Court delivered its judgment, neither the Exclusive nor Concurrent Legislative Lists under the Second Schedule to the 1999 Constitution (as amended) have been altered to include lottery or gaming — further confirming that the National Assembly has no power to legislate on the matter.

The 2024 Supreme Court judgment had categorically held that lottery and gaming cannot be regulated by any Act of the National Assembly, as these subjects are not listed under the constitutional Legislative Lists.

The apex court rejected the National Assembly’s argument that its power derived from Item 62 of the Exclusive Legislative List, which covers “trade and commerce,” or that the electronic and interstate character of gaming brought it within federal jurisdiction.

By returning to the Supreme Court, Lagos State is now seeking to enforce that ruling through contempt proceedings — a move that could set a major precedent on the limits of federal legislative power and the supremacy of judicial authority in Nigeria’s constitutional order.B