Home ยป Articles ยป An Appraisal of the Power of Attorney General in the 1999 Constitution – Akilu Sa’adu

An Appraisal of the Power of Attorney General in the 1999 Constitution – Akilu Sa’adu

An Appraisal of the Power of Attorney General in the 1999 Constitution: Whether His Power Can be Questioned or Challenged in Court

๐™„๐™‰๐™๐™๐™Š๐˜ฟ๐™๐˜พ๐™๐™„๐™Š๐™‰ ๐˜ผ๐™‰๐˜ฟ ๐™ƒ๐™„๐™Ž๐™๐™Š๐™๐™„๐˜พ๐˜ผ๐™‡ ๐˜ฝ๐˜ผ๐˜พ๐™†๐™‚๐™Š๐™๐™๐™‰๐˜ฟ ๐™Š๐™ ๐˜ผ๐™๐™๐™Š๐™๐™‰๐™€๐™” ๐™‚๐™€๐™‰๐™€๐™๐˜ผ๐™‡.
The office of Attorney-General is a sacred office and has a prosecutorial power over any case/matter which relates to crime in the country. AG’s fiat is delegable; and conferred onto him by constitution as would be subsequently digested and seen.

Historically, for we to trace the origin of Attorney-General powerful practice, we must visit the archive of British Common law system.

During the thirteenth century, the monarch’s attorney or king’s sergeant had the sole onus of maintaining the interest of the king in the royals court. As a medal prize for his devotion toward representing the king’s volition, the prerogative power of king to control, initiate or pause on prosecution was vested on his foremanโ€“Attorney-General. Thus, the AG became law onto himself that can do and undo; institute and de-institute.

This unquestionable vires reposed on Attorney-General is called ‘ ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ญ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ฒ๐˜ถ๐˜ช ‘ย  . ๐˜•๐˜ฐ๐˜ญ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ฒ๐˜ถ๐˜ช is a latin phrase which means ‘ will no longer prosecute’.ย  It is a power granted to Attorney-General for him to represent state crimes and interest in administratjon of justice and adjudication or prosecution of offenders.

The Attorney-General who is a leader of prosecution in England, when he enterred a ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ญ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ฒ๐˜ถ๐˜ช power can not be subjected to judicial review or further scrutiny as to why he enterred such power. This can be seen from the landmark decision of the court onย  ๐™‚๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง๐™ž๐™š๐™ฉ ๐™ซย  ๐™๐™ฃ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ ๐™ค๐™› ๐™ฅ๐™ค๐™จ๐™ฉ ๐™ค๐™›๐™›๐™ž๐™˜๐™š ๐™ฌ๐™ค๐™ง๐™ ๐™š๐™ง๐™จย  ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™˜๐™–๐™จ๐™š ๐™ค๐™› ๐™ˆ๐™ค๐™๐™ž๐™ฉ ๐™ซ. ๐˜ฟ๐™‹๐™‹ ๐™ข๐™–๐™ช๐™ง๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ช๐™จ. The House of Lorss per, Lord Viscount Dilhome held:

” ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™–๐™ฉ๐™ฉ๐™ค๐™ง๐™ฃ๐™š๐™ฎ ๐™‚๐™š๐™ฃ๐™š๐™ง๐™–๐™ก ๐™๐™–๐™™ ๐™ข๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ฎ ๐™™๐™ช๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™š๐™จ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ย  ๐™ฅ๐™ค๐™ฌ๐™š๐™ง๐™จย  ๐™ƒ๐™š ๐™ข๐™–๐™ฎ ๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™ค๐™ฅ ๐™ฅ๐™ง๐™ค๐™จ๐™š๐™˜๐™ช๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ ๐™ค๐™ง ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™™๐™ž๐™˜๐™ฉ๐™ข๐™š๐™ฃ๐™ฉ ๐™—๐™ฎ ๐™š๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ง๐™ง๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™– ๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ก๐™ก๐™š ๐™ฅ๐™ง๐™ค๐™จ๐™š๐™ฆ๐™ช๐™ž. ๐™ƒ๐™š ๐™ข๐™š๐™ง๐™š๐™ก๐™ฎ ๐™๐™–๐™จ ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™จ๐™ž๐™œ๐™ฃ ๐™– ๐™ฅ๐™–๐™ฅ๐™š๐™ง ๐™ฉ๐™๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™๐™š ๐™™๐™ค๐™š๐™จ ๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ฉ ๐™ฌ๐™ž๐™จ๐™ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™ฅ๐™ง๐™ค๐™จ๐™š๐™˜๐™ช๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™™๐™ž๐™ง๐™š๐™˜๐™ฉ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐˜ฟ๐™‹๐™‹ (๐™™๐™ž๐™ง๐™š๐™˜๐™ฉ๐™ค๐™ง ๐™ค๐™› ๐™ฅ๐™ช๐™—๐™ก๐™ž๐™˜ ๐™ฅ๐™ง๐™ค๐™จ๐™š๐™˜๐™›๐™ช๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ) ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™ฉ๐™–๐™ ๐™š ๐™ค๐™ซ๐™š๐™ง ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™™๐™ช๐™˜๐™ฉ ๐™ค๐™› ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ฎ ๐™˜๐™ง๐™ž๐™ข๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™–๐™ก ๐™ฅ๐™ง๐™ค๐™˜๐™š๐™š๐™™๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ๐™จ….. ๐™ž๐™ฃ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™š๐™ญ๐™š๐™ง๐™˜๐™ž๐™จ๐™š ๐™ค๐™› ๐™๐™ž๐™จ ๐™ฅ๐™ค๐™ฌ๐™š๐™ง๐™จ ๐™๐™š ๐™ž๐™จ ๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ฉ ๐™จ๐™ช๐™—๐™Ÿ๐™š๐™˜๐™ฉ ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™จ๐™ช๐™ฅ๐™š๐™ง๐™ซ๐™ž๐™จ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ ๐™—๐™ฎ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง๐™ฉ๐™จ”

Therefore, suffice it to say, the office of Attorney-General in Nigerian constitution is not a novelย  innovation in to the judicial system or , rather is not the creation of our constitution ; it predated the Nigerian constitution. It is the establishment of Common Law of England.

See also  Law: Definition, Meaning, Legal Meaning of Law

Hence, Nigeria as a weaned child of British and a common wealth Member copiedย  similar, if not same, prosecutorial power and conferred ontoย  her Attorney-General of federation who isย  a supreme judicial officer in the country and the Attorney-Generals of thirty sisx states in Nigeria.

๐™๐™๐™š ๐™ฅ๐™ค๐™จ๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ ๐™ค๐™› ๐˜ผ๐™ฉ๐™ฉ๐™ค๐™ง๐™ฃ๐™š๐™ฎ ๐™‚๐™š๐™ฃ๐™š๐™ง๐™–๐™ก ๐™ช๐™ฃ๐™™๐™š๐™ง 1999 ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ช๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ.
Constitution been the mother law of the land from which all other laws are born and derived their powers. Nigerian constitution did not overlook the incontestable powers of Attorney-Generals and the eminence powers vested onto them by other constitution of the world; it established the office of Attorney-General of Federation and Attorney-Generals of thirty six states under section 150 and 195 of 1999 constitution and endowed onto them an exalted vires under section 174 and 211 of the refferred constitution of federal Republic of Nigeria.

Theย  sections 174(1) (a) (b) (c) conjunctivelyย  read thus:
ย  ย  ย ” ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐˜ผ๐™ฉ๐™ฉ๐™ค๐™ง๐™ฃ๐™š๐™ฎ-๐™‚๐™š๐™ฃ๐™š๐™ง๐™–๐™กย  ๐™ค๐™›ย  ๐™›๐™š๐™™๐™š๐™ง๐™–๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ ๐™จ๐™๐™–๐™ก๐™กย  ๐™๐™–๐™ซ๐™šย  ๐™ฅ๐™ค๐™ฌ๐™š๐™งย  ๐™ฉ๐™คย  ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ช๐™ฉ๐™š, ๐™ช๐™ฃ๐™™๐™š๐™ง๐™ฉ๐™–๐™ ๐™š, ๐™ฉ๐™–๐™ ๐™šย  ๐™ค๐™ซ๐™š๐™ง, ๐™™๐™ž๐™จ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ช๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™ช๐™šย  ๐™–๐™ฉย  ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ฎย  ๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™–๐™œ๐™š, ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ฎ ๐™˜๐™ง๐™ž๐™ข๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™–๐™กย  ๐™ฅ๐™ง๐™ค๐™˜๐™š๐™š๐™™๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ๐™จ ๐™–๐™œ๐™–๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™จ๐™ฉ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ฎ ๐™ฅ๐™š๐™ง๐™จ๐™ค๐™ฃ ๐™—๐™š๐™›๐™ค๐™ง๐™š ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ฎ ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง๐™ฉ ๐™ค๐™› ๐™ก๐™–๐™ฌ ๐™ž๐™ฃ ๐™‰๐™ž๐™œ๐™š๐™ง๐™ž๐™–, ๐™ค๐™ฉ๐™๐™š๐™ง ๐™ฉ๐™๐™–๐™ฃ ๐™– ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง๐™ฉ- ๐™ข๐™–๐™ง๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™–๐™ก , ๐™ž๐™ฃ ๐™ง๐™š๐™จ๐™ฅ๐™š๐™˜๐™ฉ ๐™ค๐™› ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ฎ ๐™ค๐™›๐™›๐™š๐™ฃ๐™˜๐™š ๐™˜๐™ง๐™š๐™–๐™ฉ๐™š๐™™ ๐™—๐™ฎ ๐™ค๐™ง ๐™ช๐™ฃ๐™™๐™š๐™ง ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ฎ ๐™–๐™˜๐™ฉ ๐™ค๐™› ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™‰๐™–๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™–๐™ก ๐˜ผ๐™จ๐™จ๐™š๐™ข๐™—๐™ก๐™ฎ”.

similarly section 211 (1) (๐šŠ) (๐š‹) (๐šŒ)ย  jointly read thus:
ย  ย  ย  ย ” ๐™๐™๐™š ๐™–๐™ฉ๐™ฉ๐™ค๐™ง๐™ฃ๐™š๐™ฎ-๐™‚๐™š๐™ฃ๐™š๐™ง๐™–๐™ก ๐™ค๐™› ๐™– ๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™–๐™ฉ๐™š ๐™จ๐™๐™–๐™ก๐™ก ๐™๐™–๐™ซ๐™š ๐™ฅ๐™ค๐™ฌ๐™š๐™ง ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ช๐™ฉ๐™š, ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™ช๐™ฃ๐™™๐™š๐™ง๐™ฉ๐™–๐™ ๐™š , ๐™ฉ๐™–๐™ ๐™š ๐™ค๐™ซ๐™š๐™ง , ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™ช๐™š ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™™๐™ž๐™จ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™ช๐™š ๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ฎ ๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™–๐™œ๐™š ๐™—๐™š๐™›๐™ค๐™ง๐™š ๐™Ÿ๐™ช๐™™๐™œ๐™š๐™ข๐™š๐™ฃ๐™ฉ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ฎ ๐™˜๐™ง๐™ž๐™ข๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™–๐™ก ๐™ฅ๐™ง๐™ค๐™˜๐™š๐™š๐™™๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ๐™จ ๐™–๐™œ๐™–๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™จ๐™ฉ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ฎ ๐™ฅ๐™š๐™ง๐™จ๐™ค๐™ฃ ๐™—๐™š๐™›๐™ค๐™ง๐™š ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง๐™ฉ ๐™ค๐™› ๐™ก๐™–๐™ฌ ๐™ž๐™ฃ ๐™‰๐™ž๐™œ๐™š๐™ง๐™ž๐™– ๐™ž๐™ฃ ๐™ง๐™š๐™จ๐™ฅ๐™š๐™˜๐™ฉ ๐™ค๐™› ๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™–๐™ฉ๐™š ๐™ค๐™›๐™›๐™š๐™ฃ๐™˜๐™š”.

The Attorney-General as the chief officer of law in the temple of justice and a minister of the government by virtue of section 150 and 195 of 1999 constitution shall have a prosecutorial power over any criminal proceedings in Nigeria; and his power can be delegated to the other Attorneys in his office or department by virtue of subsection (2) of section 174(1) )ย  and subsection (2) of section 211(1)ย  of 1999 constitution.

Although, the Attorney-General can only extend his prosecutorial powers endowed onto him by law to either members of his department or private legal practitioners through the threshold of ‘๐˜ง๐˜ช๐˜ข๐˜ต’

๐˜ˆ ๐˜ง๐˜ช๐˜ข๐˜ต as defined by learned justice of Court of Appeal in the case ofย  ๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™–๐™ฉ๐™š ๐™ซ. ๐™๐™œ๐™๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ฌ๐™–(2020) 3 ๐™‰๐™’๐™‡๐™ (๐™ฅ๐™ฉ 1710) 22 held that: ” ๐™„๐™ฉ ๐™ž๐™จ ๐™– ๐™‡๐™–๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ฃย  ๐™ฌ๐™ค๐™ง๐™™ย  ๐™ฌ๐™๐™ž๐™˜๐™ย  ๐™ข๐™š๐™–๐™ฃ๐™จย  โ€˜let it be doneโ€™ ๐™™๐™š๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œย  ๐™ฉ๐™๐™šย  ๐™œ๐™ง๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ฉย  ๐™ค๐™›ย  ๐™ฅ๐™ค๐™ฌ๐™š๐™งย  ๐™ค๐™ฃย  ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ฉ๐™๐™š๐™งย  by ๐™–ย  ๐™ฅ๐™š๐™ง๐™จ๐™ค๐™ฃย  ๐™๐™–๐™ซ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œย  ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ข๐™ฅ๐™ก๐™š๐™ฉ๐™šย  ๐™–๐™ช๐™ฉ๐™๐™ค๐™ง๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ฎย  ๐™ค๐™ฃย  ๐™ฉ๐™๐™šย  ๐™ž๐™จ๐™จ๐™ช๐™šย  ๐™ช๐™ฅ๐™ค๐™ฃย  ๐™ฌ๐™๐™ž๐™˜๐™ย  ๐™ฉ๐™๐™šย  ๐™›๐™ž๐™–๐™ฉย  ๐™ž๐™จย  ๐™œ๐™ž๐™ซ๐™š๐™ฃย  ๐™ž๐™ฃย  ๐™ข๐™–๐™ฉ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ง๐™จย  ๐™ค๐™›ย  ๐™ฅ๐™ง๐™ค๐™จ๐™š๐™˜๐™ช๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ”.

For instance, police being a department under the superintendence of Attorney-General and minister of justice, by virtue ofย  ๐™ฅ๐™ค๐™ก๐™ž๐™˜๐™š ๐˜ผ๐™˜๐™ฉ 2020 under section 23 can prosecute on behalf of Attorney-General. The section reads thus:

See also  Burden of proof: Under Indian Evidence Act, 1872 (sections, case law) - Agam Ravinder Lamba

ย “๐™Ž๐™ช๐™—๐™Ÿ๐™š๐™˜๐™ฉย  ๐™ฉ๐™คย  ๐™ฉ๐™๐™šย  ๐™ฅ๐™ง๐™ค๐™ซ๐™ž๐™จ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™จย  ๐™ค๐™›ย  ๐™จ๐™š๐™˜๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™จย  174ย  ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ย  211 ๐™ค๐™›ย  ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐˜พ๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ช๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃย  ๐™ค๐™›ย  ๐™ฉ๐™๐™šย  ๐™๐™š๐™™๐™š๐™ง๐™–๐™กย  ย ๐™๐™š๐™ฅ๐™ช๐™—๐™ก๐™ž๐™˜ย  ๐™ค๐™›ย  ๐™‰๐™ž๐™œ๐™š๐™ง๐™ž๐™–ย  1999 (๐™ฌ๐™๐™ž๐™˜๐™ย  ๐™ง๐™š๐™ก๐™–๐™ฉ๐™šย  ๐™ฉ๐™คย  ๐™ฉ๐™๐™šย  ๐™ฅ๐™ค๐™ฌ๐™š๐™งย  ๐™ค๐™›ย  ๐™ฉ๐™๐™šย  ๐˜ผ๐™ฉ๐™ฉ๐™ค๐™ง๐™ฃ๐™š๐™ฎ -๐™‚๐™š๐™ฃ๐™š๐™ง๐™–๐™กย  ๐™ค๐™›ย  ๐™ฉ๐™๐™šย  ๐™๐™š๐™™๐™š๐™ง๐™–๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ย  ๐™ค๐™›ย  ๐™–ย  ๐™Ž๐™ฉ๐™–๐™ฉ๐™šย  ๐™ฉ๐™คย  ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ช๐™ฉ๐™šย  ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ย  ๐™ช๐™ฃ๐™™๐™š๐™ง๐™ฉ๐™–๐™ ๐™š, ๐™ฉ๐™–๐™ ๐™šย  ๐™ค๐™ซ๐™š๐™งย  ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ย  ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™ช๐™š ๐™ค๐™งย  ๐™™๐™ž๐™จ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™ช๐™šย  ย ๐™˜๐™ง๐™ž๐™ข๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™–๐™กย  ๐™ฅ๐™ง๐™ค๐™˜๐™š๐™š๐™™๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ๐™จย  ๐™–๐™œ๐™–๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™จ๐™ฉย  ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ฎย  ๐™ฅ๐™š๐™ง๐™จ๐™ค๐™ฃย  ๐™—๐™š๐™›๐™ค๐™ง๐™šย  ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ฎย  ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง๐™ฉย  ๐™ค๐™›ย  ๐™ก๐™–๐™ฌย  ๐™ž๐™ฃย  ๐™‰๐™ž๐™œ๐™š๐™ง๐™ž๐™–) ,๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ฎย  ๐™ฅ๐™ค๐™ก๐™ž๐™˜๐™šย  ย ๐™ค๐™›๐™›๐™ž๐™˜๐™š๐™ง ๐™ข๐™–๐™ฎย  ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™™๐™ช๐™˜๐™ฉย  ๐™ž๐™ฃ ๐™ฅ๐™š๐™ง๐™จ๐™ค๐™ฃย  ๐™–๐™ก๐™กย  ๐™ฅ๐™ง๐™ค๐™จ๐™š๐™˜๐™ช๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™จย  ๐™—๐™š๐™›๐™ค๐™ง๐™šย  ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ฎ ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง๐™ฉ, ๐™ฌ๐™๐™š๐™ฉ๐™๐™š๐™งย  ๐™ค๐™งย  ๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ฉย  ๐™ฉ๐™๐™šย  ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™›๐™ค๐™ง๐™ข๐™–๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃย  ๐™ค๐™ง ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ข๐™ฅ๐™ก๐™–๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™ฉย  ๐™ž๐™จย  ๐™ก๐™–๐™ž๐™™ย  ๐™ž๐™ฃ ๐™๐™ž๐™จ ๐™ฃ๐™–๐™ข๐™š”.

This also received a judicial vindication in the case of ๐™Š๐™—๐™ž๐™Ÿ๐™ž๐™–๐™ ๐™ชย  ๐™ซ. ๐™…๐™ค๐™š ๐™Š๐™—๐™ž๐™Ÿ๐™ž๐™–๐™ ๐™ช& ๐™Š๐™ง๐™จ (2022) 17 ๐™‰๐™’๐™‡๐™. It was held by Court ofย  Appeal that:
ย  ย 

โ€œ๐™๐™ฃ๐™™๐™š๐™งย  ๐™ฉ๐™๐™šย  ๐™‰๐™ž๐™œ๐™š๐™ง๐™ž๐™–๐™ฃย  ๐™–๐™™๐™ซ๐™š๐™ง๐™จ๐™–๐™ง๐™ž๐™–๐™กย  ๐™Ÿ๐™ช๐™™๐™ž๐™˜๐™ž๐™–๐™กย  ๐™จ๐™ฎ๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ข , ๐™˜๐™ง๐™ž๐™ข๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™–๐™กย  ๐™ข๐™–๐™ฉ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ง๐™จย  ๐™–๐™ง๐™šย  ๐™œ๐™š๐™ฃ๐™š๐™ง๐™–๐™ก๐™ก๐™ฎย  ๐™—๐™š๐™ฉ๐™ฌ๐™š๐™š๐™ฃย  ๐™ฉ๐™๐™šย  ๐™Ž๐™ฉ๐™–๐™ฉ๐™šย  (which symbolises the people) ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ย  ๐™ฉ๐™๐™šย  ๐™–๐™˜๐™˜๐™ช๐™จ๐™š๐™™ย  ๐™ฅ๐™š๐™ง๐™จ๐™ค๐™ฃย  ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™ซ๐™ค๐™ก๐™ซ๐™š๐™™. ๐™๐™๐™ช๐™จ , ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ฎย  ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ข๐™ข๐™ž๐™จ๐™จ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃย  ๐™ค๐™›ย  ๐™–ย  ๐™˜๐™ง๐™ž๐™ข๐™šย  ๐™–๐™œ๐™–๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™จ๐™ฉย  ๐™ฉ๐™๐™šย  ๐™˜๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ฏ๐™š๐™ฃย  ๐™ค๐™›ย  ๐™ฉ๐™๐™šย  ๐™Ž๐™ฉ๐™–๐™ฉ๐™šย  ๐™ž๐™จย  ๐™™๐™š๐™š๐™ข๐™š๐™™ย  ๐™ฉ๐™คย  ๐™๐™–๐™ซ๐™šย  ๐™—๐™š๐™š๐™ฃย  ๐™ฅ๐™š๐™ง๐™ฅ๐™š๐™ฉ๐™ง๐™–๐™ฉ๐™š๐™™ย  ๐™–๐™œ๐™–๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™จ๐™ฉย  ๐™ฉ๐™๐™šย  ๐™Ž๐™ฉ๐™–๐™ฉ๐™šย  ๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™จ๐™š๐™ก๐™› . ๐™๐™๐™šย  ๐™Ž๐™ฉ๐™–๐™ฉ๐™šย  ๐™–๐™จย  ๐™ฉ๐™๐™šย  ๐™จ๐™ช๐™ฅ๐™ง๐™š๐™ข๐™šย  ๐™ฅ๐™ง๐™ค๐™ฉ๐™š๐™˜๐™ฉ๐™ค๐™งย  ๐™ค๐™›ย  ๐™ฉ๐™๐™šย  ๐™˜๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ฏ๐™š๐™ฃ๐™จโ€™ ๐™ก๐™ž๐™ซ๐™š๐™จย  ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ย  ๐™ฅ๐™ง๐™ค๐™ฅ๐™š๐™ง๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™š๐™จย  ๐™ž๐™ข๐™ฅ๐™ค๐™จ๐™š๐™จย  ๐™ช๐™ฅ๐™ค๐™ฃย  ๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™จ๐™š๐™ก๐™›ย  ๐™ฉ๐™๐™šย  ๐™›๐™ช๐™ฃ๐™™๐™–๐™ข๐™š๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™–๐™กย  ๐™™๐™ช๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™š๐™จย  ๐™ค๐™›ย  ๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ฉย  ๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™ก๐™ฎย  ๐™–๐™ฅ๐™ฅ๐™ง๐™š๐™๐™š๐™ฃ๐™™๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ , ๐™—๐™ช๐™ฉย  ๐™–๐™ก๐™จ๐™คย  ๐™ฅ๐™ง๐™ค๐™จ๐™š๐™˜๐™ช๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œย  ๐™ค๐™›๐™›๐™š๐™ฃ๐™™๐™š๐™ง๐™จย  ๐™—๐™š๐™›๐™ค๐™ง๐™šย  ๐™–ย  ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง๐™ฉย  ๐™ค๐™›ย  ๐™ก๐™–๐™ฌ. ๐™Ž๐™ช๐™˜๐™ย  ๐™–ย  ๐™ฅ๐™ค๐™ฌ๐™š๐™งย  ๐™ž๐™จย  ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™ซ๐™–๐™ง๐™ž๐™–๐™—๐™ก๐™ฎย  ๐™™๐™š๐™ก๐™š๐™œ๐™–๐™ฉ๐™š๐™™ย  ๐™—๐™ฎย  ๐™ฉ๐™๐™šย  ๐™Ž๐™ฉ๐™–๐™ฉ๐™šย  ๐™ฉ๐™คย  ๐™จ๐™ฅ๐™š๐™˜๐™ž๐™›๐™ž๐™˜ย  ๐™–๐™œ๐™š๐™ฃ๐™˜๐™ž๐™š๐™จย  ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ย  ๐™ค๐™›๐™›๐™ž๐™˜๐™š๐™ง๐™จย  ๐™ก๐™ž๐™ ๐™šย  ๐™ฉ๐™๐™šย  ๐˜ผ๐™ฉ๐™ฉ๐™ค๐™ง๐™ฃ๐™š๐™ฎ-๐™‚๐™š๐™ฃ๐™š๐™ง๐™–๐™กย  ๐™ค๐™›ย  ๐™ฉ๐™๐™šย  ๐™๐™š๐™™๐™š๐™ง๐™–๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃย  ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ย  ๐™ค๐™›ย  ๐™–ย  ๐™Ž๐™ฉ๐™–๐™ฉ๐™š, ๐™ฉ๐™๐™šย  ๐™‹๐™ค๐™ก๐™ž๐™˜๐™š , ๐™ฉ๐™๐™šย  ๐™€๐™˜๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ข๐™ž๐™˜ย  ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ย  ๐™๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™˜๐™ž๐™–๐™กย  ๐˜พ๐™ง๐™ž๐™ข๐™š๐™จย  ๐˜พ๐™ค๐™ข๐™ข๐™ž๐™จ๐™จ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃย  ๐™ฉ๐™๐™šย  ๐™„๐™ฃ๐™™๐™š๐™ฅ๐™š๐™ฃ๐™™๐™š๐™ฃ๐™˜๐™šย  ๐˜พ๐™ค๐™ง๐™ง๐™ช๐™ฅ๐™ฉย  ๐™‹๐™ง๐™–๐™˜๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™˜๐™š๐™จย  ๐˜พ๐™ค๐™ข๐™ข๐™ž๐™จ๐™จ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ, ๐™š๐™ฉ๐™˜ โ€

Whether The Power of Attorney-General Can Be Challenged in the Court

It is trite law that courts has the sole. Power and jurisdiction to interprete and give meaning to any Act made by National Assembly in Nigeria (visit section 6 of 1999 constitution) but, Attorney-General he, alone, has the power to prosecute or not to prosecute. This has been painstakingly observed in the England case of  ๐™ ๐™ซ ๐™Š๐™ก๐™–๐™ฎ๐™ž๐™ฌ๐™ค๐™ก๐™– (1959) 4 ๐™๐™Ž๐˜พ 119 ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐˜ฝ๐™–๐™œ๐™ช๐™™๐™– ๐™ซ ๐™›๐™š๐™™๐™š๐™ง๐™–๐™ก ๐™๐™š๐™ฅ๐™ช๐™—๐™ก๐™ž๐™˜ ๐™ค๐™› ๐™‰๐™ž๐™œ๐™š๐™ง๐™ž๐™– (2004) 1 ๐™‰๐™’๐™‡๐™ (๐™ฅ๐™ฉ 853) .

See also  3 Ways a Civil Lawyer Can Help in a Civil Litigation Lawsuit

Similarly, in the locus classicus case of ๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™–๐™ฉ๐™š ๐™ซ ๐™„๐™ก๐™ค๐™ง๐™ž (1985) 1 ๐™Ž๐˜พ๐™‰๐™‡๐™ 94 the courtย  ๐™ฅ๐™š๐™ง ๐™ ๐™–๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™™๐™š ๐™€๐™จ๐™ค ๐™Ÿ๐™จ๐™˜ held that, ” ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™ฅ๐™ค๐™ฌ๐™š๐™ง๐™จ ๐™ซ๐™š๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™™ ๐™ค๐™ฃ ๐˜ผ๐™ฉ๐™ฉ๐™ค๐™ง๐™ฃ๐™š๐™ฎ-๐™‚๐™š๐™ฃ๐™š๐™ง๐™–๐™ก ๐™–๐™ง๐™š ๐™–๐™—๐™จ๐™ค๐™ก๐™ช๐™ฉ๐™š ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™ช๐™ฃ๐™›๐™š๐™ฉ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ง๐™š๐™™ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™˜๐™–๐™ฃ ๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ฉ ๐™—๐™š ๐™˜๐™๐™–๐™ก๐™ก๐™š๐™ฃ๐™œ๐™š๐™™ ๐™ž๐™ฃ ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง๐™ฉ ;๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™ก๐™ฎ ๐™จ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™˜๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ ๐™–๐™œ๐™–๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™จ๐™ฉ ๐™–๐™ฃ ๐˜ผ. ๐™‚ ๐™ฌ๐™๐™ค ๐™ข๐™ž๐™จ๐™ช๐™จ๐™š๐™จ ๐™๐™ž๐™จ ๐™ฅ๐™ค๐™ฌ๐™š๐™ง ๐™ž๐™จ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™ง๐™š๐™–๐™˜๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ ๐™ค๐™› ๐™๐™ž๐™จ ๐™–๐™ฅ๐™ฅ๐™ค๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ง ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™ง๐™š๐™ข๐™ค๐™ซ๐™š ๐™๐™ž๐™ข ๐™›๐™ง๐™ค๐™ข ๐™ค๐™›๐™›๐™ž๐™˜๐™š….. “

In the similar vein court does not have locus to challenge or question the exercise of the power of Attorney-General. It is the sole responsibility of the political power that appoint him(See theย  case ofย  ๐™ƒ๐™–๐™ก๐™ž๐™ง๐™ช &๐˜ผ๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ง ๐™‘. ๐˜พ๐™๐™ž๐™š๐™› ๐™‚๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ž ๐™๐™–๐™ฌ๐™–๐™๐™š๐™ฃ๐™ข๐™ž (1989) 3 ๐™‰๐™’๐™‡๐™ (๐™ฅ๐™ฉ 112) 685) .

But where a person is aggrieved or disgruntled with the exercise of AG’s nolle prosequi, such person can bring or initiate a private action against him. (See the case of ๐˜ผ๐™ฉ๐™ฉ๐™ค๐™ง๐™ฃ๐™š๐™ฎย  -๐™‚๐™š๐™ฃ๐™š๐™ง๐™–๐™ก ๐™ค๐™› ๐™†๐™–๐™™๐™ช๐™ฃ๐™– ๐™Ž๐™ฉ๐™–๐™ฉ๐™š ๐™‘. ๐™ƒ๐™–๐™จ๐™จ๐™–๐™ฃ (1985) 2 ๐™‰๐™’๐™‡๐™ (๐™ฅ๐™ฉ 8) 483).

Noteworthy, is the fact that when an Attorney-General enterred ๐˜ง๐˜ช๐˜ขt ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ญ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ prosequi in order to discontinue any proceedings that would not exculpate the suspect orย  accused, or to reframe it in another dictum, that would not amount to acquittal, as the same person canย  be indicted for the same offence in future. This was judicially blessed and cemented in the case of ๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™–๐™ซ๐™š ๐™ซ. ๐™„๐™ก๐™ค๐™ง๐™ž(๐™จ๐™ช๐™ฅ๐™ง๐™–)ย  per Eso Jscย  he said: “๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ก๐™ก๐™š ๐™ฅ๐™ง๐™ค๐™จ๐™š๐™ฆ๐™ช๐™ž ๐™ž๐™จ ๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™ก๐™ฎ ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ข๐™ฅ๐™ค๐™ง๐™–๐™ง๐™ฎ ๐™ฅ๐™ง๐™ค๐™˜๐™š๐™š๐™™๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ๐™จ ๐™ฌ๐™๐™ž๐™˜๐™ ๐™๐™–๐™จ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™š๐™›๐™›๐™š๐™˜๐™ฉ ๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™ก๐™ฎ ๐™ค๐™› ๐™– ๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™–๐™ฎ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ฉ ๐™– ๐™ฆ๐™ช๐™–๐™จ๐™๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™ค๐™› ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™™๐™ž๐™˜๐™ฉ๐™ข๐™š๐™ฃ๐™ฉ, ๐™ฌ๐™๐™ž๐™˜๐™ ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™˜๐™๐™ฃ๐™ž๐™˜๐™–๐™ก๐™ก๐™ฎ ๐™ข๐™–๐™ฎ ๐™ก๐™–๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ง ๐™—๐™š ๐™ฅ๐™ง๐™š๐™จ๐™š๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™™ ๐™ฌ๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™๐™ค๐™ช๐™ฉ ๐™›๐™ง๐™š๐™จ๐™ ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™™๐™ž๐™˜๐™ฉ๐™ข๐™š๐™ฃ๐™ฉ”

Conclusion

From the foregoing it is clearly exposed that the power conferred upon the Attorney-General by 1999 constitution is unchallengeable in court; and can only be annuled when such Attorney left office and a new one decides to proceeds with the matter.

However, according to the reasoning of this writer such absolute power endowed on Attorney-General who is, only questionable by his appointer, will lead to partiality in the administration of justice in Nigeria.

Thus, the power of Attorney-General should, supposed, to be trammelled, checked and limited by the competent court so as to forestall unscrupulous or indiscriminate application of power.


Image Credit: Arise News


About Author

Akilu Sa’adu is 200 level Law student from the Faculty of Law Ahmadu Bello University Zaria. He is an adent Human right advocate and legal enthusiast.

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