Good morning, friends.
Somewhere in the south western part of Nigeria, a quarrel ensued between two brothers of the same parents.This squabble soon escalated to a bloody fight which eventually led to the death of one of these brothers.The other brother was subsequently arrested for killing his brother.The Attorney-General and Commissioner of Justice of the state where the incident occurred became interested in the prosecution of the case.However, the parents of the two brothers do not want their son to face the wrath of the law which may result in death especially now that they just lost his brother.They cannot afford to lose on both sides.
Despite the parents' plea for the withdrawal of the case, the police still went ahead to conduct and conclude an investigation into the case. As the Director of Public Prosecutions has advised that the case be prosecuted, it is now time to transfer the case to the state High Court from a lower court for full trial. On the day of his first appearance at the High Court, the parents got crazy about this development and resorted to a protest in court claiming that they wanted the case withdrawn at all costs. After all, they claimed, they were the parents of both the accused and the victim.Despite this confrontational pressure from the parents, the Attorney-General of the state is still interested in seeing that justice is not only done in the case but that justice must be seen to have been done.The AG is poised to see that every criminal in his state is brought to book to stem the high rate of crime in the state.To that end,the AG has determined not to give room for sentiment of any kind in his own role in the administration of criminal justice in the state.
Who has the power to discontinue the trial of the young man? Is it his father or the AG?
THE LEGAL POSITION
It is pertinent to first note that crime is an offence against the state.So, it is solely the business of the state to prosecute crime except in rare cases which may be discussed in a future post.A criminal case is unlike a civil case which arises from a wrong done to a citizen of a state by a co-citizen.The state does not have any business meddling in such cases except it is a party just like an individual.
Since prosecution of crime is the sole business of the state, the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria establishes the offices of the Attorney-General of the Federation and those of the Attorneys-General of the states of the federation to prosecute criminal matters for the federal government and the governments of the states of the federation respectively. See section 150 which establishes the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation and section 195 of the Constitution which establishes the offices of the Attorneys-General of the states of the Federation.
Further, section 211 of the Constitution empowers the Attorney-General of a state to institute and undertake criminal proceedings against any persons before any court of law in Nigeria, apart from a court-martial, in respect of any offence created by or under any law of the House of Assembly of that state. Section 174 of the same Constitution also gives the Attorney-General of the Federation a similar power in relation to federal offences.
By virtue of the above cited-provision of the Constitution, the Attorney-General in the scenario at hand has the final say over the institution of criminal proceedings against the accused person.There is nothing the parents of the accused person can do about it.This is a matter of crime against the state and the AG of the state, as the chief law officer of that state, is responsible for whether or not it should proceed to trial. Constitutionally speaking, nobody can stop the AG from prosecuting the case.
However, there is a clause in section 211 (3) of the Constitution whose provision cannot be completely ignored.It provides that the AG of a state shall, in exercising this power and other powers conferred on him in this section, have regard to the public interest, the interest of justice and the need to prevent abuse of legal process. There is also such restriction on the powers of the AG of the federation in section 174 (3) of the Constitution.The question now is what if the public share the sentiment of the parents of these two brothers in this scenario, what will become of the fate of the case?
Till tomorrow, I leave you to ponder on this.
Have a wonderful day!
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