A CRITIQUE OF THE POWERS OF ATTORNEY GENERAL IN THE ADMINISTRATION OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE IN NIGERIA

CHAPTER ONE:

GENERAL INTRODUCTION:

1.1 Background of the Study:

The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria provides for the office of Attorney General and bestowed him with the powers of public prosecution which shall be exercised in the best interest of the State.¹ The powers were granted on the legal assumption that the independence, strength of character, professionalism and integrity of the Attorney General would not allow him to misuse the powers for any whimsical purpose whatsoever. That lofty expectation of the law notwithstanding, democratic experiences in Nigeria, has shown that the officer usually styled as the Minister/Commissioner of justice of the federation or the states as the case may be and invariably appointed on the basis of political consideration; has typically proved to be more of a political Minister/Commissioner than an officer of law committed to upholding the demand of justice for which his powers were in the first place granted. From the first, second, third to the present fourth Republic, Nigeria‟s Democratic history is replete with instances where the powers of Attorney General where used for whimsical purpose such as the prosecution of political opponents upon trumped up charges and the discontinuance of prosecution instituted by the police and other law enforcement agencies against government‟s party activists solely on political ground. In fact, it was this abuse of powers by the Federal and Regional Attorneys General of the First Republic which led to the rejected recommendation of the 1979 Constitution Drafting Committee that the powers of the Attorney General to take over or discontinue criminal proceeding be exercised only with the consent of the authority that instituted the proceeding in the first place.

Added to the above problem is the seeming lopsidedness in recent times in the prosecution of criminal offences as it affects the privileged and less privileged members of the society. On a day to day basis in Nigeria, Magistrates and other inferior courts are inundated with minor cases of stealing, cheating, criminal breach of trust and traffic offences committed by Nigerians who in most cases belong to the less privileged class of the society. In fact, some months back, a Magistrate Court sitting in Lagos attracted attention when she sentenced hundreds of Nigerians, some of whom under aged, to different terms of imprisonment without option of fine for minor traffic and environmental offences. On the contrary, the prosecution of most blue or white collar offences hardly attracted the same level of success or determined prosecution. The prosecutions of several persons alleged to have committed serious crimes of official corruption have dragged on for years without success.⁴Two factors seem responsible for the above situation – the overriding powers of the president and state governors in the appointment and removal of Attorney General and the refusal of the judiciary in Nigeria to invoke the power of judicial review on the exercise of powers by the Attorney General on the ground that the powers are absolute and subject to no judicial review what so ever