THE STATE V. S. O. ILORI & ORS

ESO, JSC (Delivering the Lead Judgment): On the 26th of October, 1978, an information was filed in the Lagos High Court by the Director of Public Prosecutions of Lagos State to prosecute Fred Egbe, who is the appellant in the present appeal to this Court, and who would hereinafter in this judgment be referred to as the appellant. The information was for the offence of inducing delivery of money by false pretences and also for stealing. The appellant, by a motion dated 21st November, 1978, brought an application for an order to quash the indictment but his application was dismissed by the court. On appeal, the Federal Court of Appeal, hereinafter referred to as the Court of Appeal, in a lead judgment, delivered by Uthman Mohammed, JCA, to which Coker and Nnaemeka-Agu, JJCA, allowed the appeal and quashed the information. It was in consequence of this decision of the Court of Appeal that the appellant wrote a letter to the Attorney-General of Lagos State on 8th May, 1979, wherein he r…