CHIBOK: BRING BACK OUR GIRLS

I read the Noble Laureate Professor Wole Soyinka’s ‘write up on the Bring back our girls’ where he condemned the highly criticised campaign of our time ‘bring back Jonathan in 2015’ and also President Goodluck Jonathan’s recent trip to Chad with Senator ALI Modu Sheriff,
who has been accused of being book Haram sponsor.the Noble Laureate put his weight behind the Australian Negotiator Stephen Davis saying they have both worked together under the late President Umar Yaradua regime during the struggle for the return of peace in Niger Delta region. This is not what this discussion is all about ...............while reading i came across a line where he said ‘Femi Falana can safely assume that he has my full backing-and a number of civic organizations-if he is compelled to go ahead and invoke legal recourse available to him to force Sheriff’s prosecution’

I read and read this line trying to understand what the Professor was driving at and came to the conclusion that ‘ can he be saying Mr Femi Falana is trying to get Senator Ali Modu sheriff investigated and prosecuted based on the report of the Australian Negotiator?

Who can institute criminal proceedings?

The 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and various enactment vests the power to institute criminal proceedings on different authorities and persons in Nigeria, the Attorney General of the federation and states, judicial officers, the Nigerian Police, private persons and special prosecutors.

Section 174 and 211 of the constitution empowers the federal and state Attorney general respectively to institute, take over or discontinue criminal proceedings against any person in any court of law in Nigeria except a court Martial.

Section 23 of the Police Act 1990 state that subject to the provisions of sections 160 and 191 of the Constitution FRN any officer may conduct in person all prosecutions before any court whether or not the information or complaint is laid in his name.

Private person by virtue of section 342 of the criminal procedure Act and section 143 of the Criminal Procedure code both admit that a private person can institute criminal proceedings under certain conditions, one of which is by obtaining an endorsement on the information by a law officer certifying that he has such information and does not intend to prosecute the offence contained therein at the instance of the public.

What right has the Senior Advocate or other civic organization have if they wish to prosecute the accused in this case?

As a judicial officer, the senior advocate can institute criminal proceeding in court,also the civic organization by following the laid down procedure  in section 342 of CPA and 143 of CPC as a private person.

Can the Attorney general refuse to endorse a private person thereby preventing him from instituting criminal proceeding?

In Gani fawehinmi V. Akilu & ors it was held that the an order of mandamus could be issued to compel the Attorney General of Lagos State to issue a fiat to a private prosecutor to prosecute the accused person, Also in Attorney General of Anambra state V. Nwobodo (1992) NWLR PT 256,711 It was held that an order of mandamus may now be issued to compel a court, a judicial officer to perform an act, which is its or their public, official or ministerial duty, in this case private persons successfully obtained an order of mandamus compelling the AG to endorse and certify their private information.

What are you still waiting for *side eye

Thank you.

Oyenike Alliyu-Adebiyi LLB (hons) BL