THE POWER OF ARREST UNDER THE ADMINISTRATION OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE ACT 2015: EMERGING ISSUES AND CHALLENGES

Abstract

The question of the lawfulness, legality and otherwise of arrests has been a growing concern in the Nigeriancriminal justice system notwithstanding the recent legislative revolution by the enactment of the Administrationof Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) which provides comprehensive and innovative procedural checks on the power ofarrest of the Police and other law enforcement agents in Nigeria. In spite of the laudable provisions of the newlegislation, law enforcement agents have flagrantly continued to conduct arrests in breaches of the extant lawscreating palpable human rights concerns, a situation which simply defines the police stations and other securityformations in Nigeria as ADR centres where criminal complaints are settled civilly. This is so as majority of thearrests are not intended to result in criminal trials in the first place. This paper examines the powers of the policeand other law enforcement agents as regards the conduct of arrest, the limits set by the law on such powers andinnovations introduced by the ACJA as well as the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (asamended), factors responsible for ineffectiveness of the law and measures for combating non compliance withextant laws defining the power of arrest in Nigeria. Reliance is placed on the Administration of Criminal JusticeLaw of Delta State 2017 at some point in discussing the similarity and peculiarity of the ACJA and ACJ statutes1.