Case Law and by the Principles of Stare Decisis, Nigerian Authorities rank higher in priority and
Applications and are binding on all Lower Courts.
Learned Silk, Kanu Agabi SAN also submitted that differences between Nigerian and Foreign Decision,
including that of English Courts, had never suggested that the Nigerian Decision is per incuriam or
wrong and the only recognizable circumstance where a foreign decision is preferred, is when
Supreme Court finds its own decision on a Point of Law to be wrong, citing the case of ARAKA VS
EGBUE (SUPRA) AT PAGE 31 PARAS A-E PER TOBI JSC; CARRIBEAN TRADING & FIDELITY
CORPORATION VS NNPC (1992) 7 NWLR PART 252 PAGE 161.
Finally, Learned Silk representing the Defendant argued that the technical words conveyed in the
phraseology “committed a Criminal Breach of Trust”,” denotes a vague expression and its repetitious
use by the Prosecution clearly showed that the element of dishonesty was not charged. This informed
the Appellate Courts in their decisions to explicitly state that dishonesty, is an element for the Offence
of Criminal Breach of Trust and had never approved the use of such words described as being
technical, to suffice when stating out the elements of an Offence. Therefore, elements of an Offence
should not be left to mere assumptions and speculations.
Now, the Court finds it clear that by the time the Original Charges were framed, the Governing Law
was the Criminal Procedure Code 1960 and not the newly promulgated Administration of
Criminal Justice Act 2015. Following the Amendment of the Charges on the 9th of May 2016, the
Drafting of Charges was fully governed by the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015.
In a newly delivered Judgment of the Supreme Court dated the 26th day of January 2018, AKA’AHS JSC
in the case of GABRIEL DAUDU VS FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA (2018) SUIT NO:
SC.172/2017, held inter alia that it is the Substantive Law in operation at the time an Offence is said
to have been committed that has to be referred to, when a Person is being charged to Court but the
Procedural Law to be used, would be the Current One. Thus, if the Evidence Act or the Criminal
Procedure Law has been Amended or Replaced, and a new one is in place at the time of Trial, it is the
Amended or Newly Enacted Evidence Act/ Criminal Procedure Code that will be used to guide the
Trial, notwithstanding that the Offence was committed before the Promulgation of the new
Procedural Law.
Therefore, this Court would, resort to the provisions of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act
2015.
Under Section 195 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015, which replaced Chapter
XIX AT Section 201 (5) of the Criminal Procedure Code, it states that the fact that a Charge is
made, is equivalent to a Statement that every legal condition required by Law to constitute the
Offence charged was fulfilled in the particular case. This is a legal presumption.
Under Section 194(1) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015, a Charge shall state the
Offence with which the Defendant is charged. It did not say that a Charge shall set out the Ingredients
of the Offence and all it required is the Offence.
Section 194(2)(a) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015, formerly Section 201 (2)
of the Criminal Procedure Code, states that “If the Law which creates the Offence gives it any
Specific Name, the Offence may be described in the Charge by that Name Only. The Offence should be
stated in its ordinary name and not in its technical name.
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