“Once a Police Officer decides to make a Complaint against an Accused Person, he must first of all caution the Accused Person in a Prescribed Form. If the Accused decides to volunteer a Statement, he may write it himself or the Police Officer may write it for him. Where a Statement is the Product of a Question and Answer Session between the Accused and the Police, such a Statement cannot be regarded as free and voluntary and the Procedure would be against the Provision of Order 6 of the Criminal Procedure (Statement to Police Officer Rules (1960) Cap 30 of the Laws of Northern Nigeria 1963 (Judges Rules) hence the Statement would not be legal evidence and be inadmissible.” (Emphasis is that of Counsel). Now, the Court finds that The Judges Rules were formulated in England in 1912. The Rules were revised in 1964 and they were reported in (1964) 1 WLR AT 152 as a Practice Direction. In Nigeria, the Rules are adopted as applicable to Police Officers, Prison Warders and Village Heads. Reference is made to the case of R VS ANYA UGWUOGO (1943) 9 W.A.C.A. 73. The purpose of the Rules is to ensure that Statements (or any piece of evidence, including taking the Photograph of the Suspect) taken by Police Officers interrogating Suspects are made voluntarily; so a Person in custody should not be questioned without the usual caution being first administered. The Caution administered by Police Officers to the Suspect is as follows: “Do you wish to say anything in answer to the Charge? You are not obliged to say anything unless you wish to do so, but whatever you say will be taken down in writing and may be given in evidence.” There should be no questioning before the Caution is administered. Also care must be taken to avoid any suggestion that Statements made by the Suspect can only be used “against him” as this may prevent an innocent Person making a Statement, which might assist to clear him of the Charge. A Suspect making a Voluntary Statement must not be cross-examined and no question should be put to him about it except for the purpose of removing an ambiguity in what he has actually said. Judges Rules, being Rules of Practice, do not have the Force of Law, as they are mere Administrative Directions, designed to assist the Police Officers in obtaining Statements from a Defendant. Therefore, a breach of the Rules will NOT render an otherwise Voluntary Confessional Statement inadmissible. Further, Order 6 of the Criminal Procedure (Statement to Police Officers) Rules, 1960, Cap 30 of the Laws of Northern Nigeria, 1963 Judge’s Rules, provided as follows: “6. A Person against whom a Police Officer has decided to make a Complaint and who makes a Voluntary Statement, shall not be cross-examined and no questions shall be put to him about such Statements except for the purpose of removing ambiguity in what he has actually said”. These Rules are somewhat similar to the Miranda Rights of the United States of America. Reference is made to the Dictum of CHIEF JUSTICE WARREN, in MIRANDA VS ARIZONA (1966) 384 U.S. 436. In the case of STATE VS AHMED RABIU (2013) 8 NWLR AT 585, it was held that the Statement must have been made voluntary and freely and without any inducement or threat of harm to the Accused. An Admission may be obtained from a Person by questions fairly and properly put to him by a Police Officer…. ALAGOA J.S.C. held inter alia that “It does happen and not too infrequently that an Accused Person left alone to write his Statement, without any form of guidance goes on a merry go round of sorts, leaving behind the crucial issues. The true test of the Voluntariness of a Confessional Statement should be whether an Accused Person in the course of writing his Statement was, if need be, properly guided to write what he actually wanted to write and not what he certainly did not want to write, and would not have written it, but for some form of threat of harm or inducement or whatever that would make his Statement involuntary. His Lordship further held that Questions, which would make the Statement coherent, could be permissible if not overdone. KALGO J.S.C’s Dictum in SUNDAY 41