The Impact of the Power of Nolle Prossequi on the Fight against Corruption in Nigeria

Nigeria since independence has been battling with the endemic problem of corruption. Corruption has eaten up the fabric of the nation. It has always been fanned by the embers of tribalism and nepotism, lack of political will to face corruption headlong, weak criminal justice administration system and most importantly, weak institutions. The constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, provides for the office of the Attorney General of the federation and or of the state/region. The Attorney General is to function as the Chief law officer and the minister of justice of the federation and or Commissioner of Justice of the state and or region. The fight against corruption has defied all known theories known to the Nigerian public and has not produced any reasonable results and one of the major reasons is the fact that those who have been at the leadership positions have scarcely been convicted of corruption even the corruption cases are very glaring. The constitution of Nigeria, as in many other Common Law nations, vests on the attorney general, the power to institute and discontinue any criminal proceedings before judgment is delivered. In the exercise of this power in Nigeria nay other common law countries, the attorney general is a law unto himself as he should only have regard to public interest, interest of justice and abuse of court processes. This article seeks to address the impact, the exercise of this power of Nolle Prosequi has had in the fight against corruption in Nigeria. The researcher tends to use several cases where the attorney generals of the federation and the states have evoked the power of Nolle Prosqui and critically analyze how such invocation has helped the fight against corruption or whether such invocation has aided and abated corruption. The research findings however reveal that the Attorney generals have rather used the power of Nolle Prosequi to stall the process of bringing to justice, corrupt government officials standing trials in different parts of the country. Finally, the researcher will make some recommendations which in his opinion, will remedy the situation.