Nigerian Police to lose power to prosecute suspects

Although the Supreme Court has affirmed the powers of the Nigeria Police Force to prosecute cases, the Attorney General of Federation and Justice Minister, Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN), on Monday asked the Force to concern itself with investigation rather than prosecution of cases.

The minister argued that in spite of the powers of the police to prosecute granted by statute, such powers were by all intents and purposes subject to and subordinate to his authority as the country’s Chief Law Officer.

Expressing this view at a public dialogue on ‘Torture, Extra- judicial Killing, Human Rights and National Security’ he decried negative effects of allowing the police to continue to prosecute cases especially at the High Court, noting that the concerns arise from the fact that the police prosecutors are not well-equipped to discharge such duties.

He said: “My office is also concerned about several negative aspects arising from continued prosecution of cases by the police particularly in the High Courts. Although the police are by virtue of the Police Act empowered to undertake prosecution, such powers are no doubt under the supervisory mandate of the office of the Attorney General under the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“We have in the course of time studied this situation and we are convinced of the need to encourage the police to focus on the investigation of crime. We have also observed that lay prosecutors are ill-equipped to respond to questions of law when raised by defence counsel,” Adoke added.

He said government is concerned that “shoddy prosecution can result into intolerable delays and prolonged detention,” noting that “this raises the need to have clearly defined policies governing the decision to prosecute or abstain from prosecution.”

Adoke disclosed that in response to the prevailing circumstance, he has adopted a draft Prosecutorial Guidelines and Code “which are intended to enhance professionalism and incorporate best practices in the discharge of prosecutorial duties.”

He lamented the Aluu killings and other gruesome attacks on persons that have increased in recent times and noted that “the apparent lack of capacity on the part of security agencies to arrest this trend appears to fuel the incentive for self-help measures that often manifest as crude and barbaric practices.”

He said “there is no doubt that the rule of law has taken flight in a society which condones a situation where citizens take the law into their hands and summarily try and execute suspected felons.”

He blamed it on the criminal justice system, stating that the “the apparent slow pace of the criminal justice system particularly the corruption that permeates the system has been identified as the main reason why citizens take laws into their hands.”

He therefore called for a “holistic reform” of the criminal justice system, saying it is long overdue.