Examining the Power of Lay Police Officers to Prosecute Offences Which Non-Lawyers Can Prosecute in Nigerian Courts

Abstract

Before the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015 (ACJA) and Police Act 2020 came into force, lay police officers prosecuted criminal offences mostly in inferior courts in Nigeria, though their authority to prosecute in all courts was clear from both the repealed Police Act and judicial authorities. ACJA makes an unsuccessful attempt at excluding lay Police officers from prosecuting criminal offences in courts. The Police Act 2020, which comes closest to abrogating the prosecutorial powers of lay police officers, introduces a strange term tending to defeat that objective. This Paper critically examines the offences non-lawyers prosecute in courts, with a view to determining whether or not lay police officers have powers to prosecute offences in courts under the Police Act 2020 and other criminal procedure laws at Federal or State levels. Doctrinal research methodology is employed in gathering and critically analysing the relevant sections of ACJA, Administration of Criminal Justice Laws (ACJL) of select States, Police Act 2020, Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, and judicial authorities. The Paper concludes that lay police officers do not have prosecutorial powers under our current law. It, therefore, recommends that section 66 (2) of the Police Act 2020 be repealed to cancel the confusion it has created.