TITLE OF THE ARTICLE: Time for Raising Objection to defect in a Charge under the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA)
AUTHORS:
F.E. Ojeih F. E Ojeih, Ag. Deputy Direct-General, Nigerian Law School, Augustine Nnamani Campus, Agbani.
D.O Okanyi is a lecturer in the Department of Criminal Litigation, Nigerian Law School, Augustine Nnamani Campus.
ABSTRACT
The Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, is no doubt, a legislation that has as one of its focal aims, the promotion of speedy dispensation of justice in the courts to which it applies. One of the areas in the Administration of Criminal Justice which the Act has introduced remarkable innovation is in the procedure for raising objections in Criminal trials. Under Sections 221 and 396(2) of the Act, unlike the Criminal Procedure Act which emphasised objections before plea, the Act appears in one breath to prohibit objections and in another breath to encourage it. This work examines these provisions with a view to ascertaining the true intentions of Act. It is our position that the Act couldn’t have intended an outright prohibition of objections in criminal trials as that would run contrary to the spirit and intents of the Act.