IRIKEFE, CJN (Presiding and Delivering the Leading Judgment): This appeal raises issues as to whether a State Attorney-General can prosecute a patently Federal Offence without express delegation from the Federal Attorney-General.
Mr. Horn, the Honourable Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Benue State, states that he is not now opposing the appeal on the constitutional issue raised. This, in my view, would knock the bottom out of the entire case.
The charges brought against the appellant arose under a Federal law and consequently it would not have been competent to prosecute him unless and until his prosecution had been expressly authorised by the Federal Attorney General or, which is saying the same thing, powers to prosecute had been expressly delegated to the State Attorney-General. Mr. Horn confirmed that this was not the case.
It seems to me that what was done in this case flies in the teeth of our decision in Attorney-General Kaduna State v. Hassan which is reported …