CRIMINAL PROCEDURE (NORTHERN STATES) ACT

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LAWS OF THE FEDERATION OF NIGERIA

CRIMINAL PROCEDURE (NORTHERN STATES) ACT

[REPEALED BY ADMINISTRATION OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE ACT, 2015]

ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS

1. Short title.
2. Interpretation.
3. Provision for courts in respect of Federal offences.
4. Jurisdiction of specified courts.
5. Powers of arrest in respect of Federal offences, and method of process.
6. Modifications to Northern States Criminal Procedure Code Law.
7. Preservation of certain matters in Criminal Procedure Act.

Appendix

CRIMINAL PROCEDURE (NORTHERN STATES) ACT

An Act to make new provisions for the jurisdiction, powers, practice and procedure of the Courts of the Northern State of Nigeria in respect of Federal Offences, to continue certain inter-State arrangements provided for in the Criminal Procedure Act and for purposes ancillary to the matters aforesaid.

[Commencement:] [30th September, 1960]

1. Short title.

This Act may be cited as the Criminal Procedure (Northern States) Act.

2. Interpretation.

In this Act unless the context otherwise requires-

“Federal offence” means an offence contrary to the provisions of a Federal Act, and a reference to a Federal offence committed in any of the Northern States shall include an offence committed in such circumstances that the provisions of the Schedule to the Penal Code (Northern States) Federal Provisions Act, apply by reason of section 4 of that Act;

“Federal Act” means an Act enacted by the National Assembly or taking effect as if it had been so enacted;

“Northern States” means the States of Nigeria constituting the area formerly known as Northern Region of Nigeria.

3. Provision for courts in respect of Federal offences.

(1)    Subject to the provisions of this Act and of the Penal Code (Northern States) Federal Provisions Act, the courts of the Northern States shall in respect of Federal offences committed in any of the Northern States have the like jurisdiction and powers, and shall follow the like practice and procedure, as they respectively have and follow in respect of offences other than Federal offences.

(2)    Section 37 of the Interpretation Act is repealed in its application to the Northern States.

4. Jurisdiction of specified courts:

(1)    An offence contrary to the provision of the Penal code (Northern States) Federal Provisions Act, may be tried by the court specified in the sixth column of the Appendix to this Act in respect of that offence or by any court with greater powers.

(2)    An abatement, attempt or conspiracy to commit a Federal offence may be tried by a court having jurisdiction to try such Federal offence or by any court with greater powers.

(3)    An offence which is contrary to the provisions of a Federal Act other than the penal Code (Northern States) having jurisdiction in the Act creating the offence or by any court with greater powers, and where no court is specified as having jurisdiction the offence may be tried by the High Court or any court constituted under the Criminal Procedure Code Law, 1960, of the Northern States, subject to the same limitations that are prescribed by the proviso to subsection (2) of section 13 of that Law and by sections 15 to 25 of that Law.

5. Powers of arrest in respect of Federal offences, and method of process.

(1)    The powers of arrest provided for in Part III of the Schedule to the Criminal Procedure Code Law, 1960, of the Northern States, shall be applicable in respect of Federal offences as they apply in respect of offences other than Federal offences, and references in section 26 of the Schedule to that Law to the third column of Appendix A to the Law shall be construed as reference to the third column of the Appendix to this Act..

(2)    Process to compel the attendance of the accused person shall ordinarily be a summons or a warrant according as in the opinion of the court, a summons or a warrant according to the fourth column of the Appendix hereto issued in the first instance.

6. Modifications to Northern States Criminal Procedure Code Law.

In its application to the jurisdiction, powers, practice and procedure of the courts of the Northern States in relation to Federal offences, the Criminal Procedure Code law, 1960, of the Northern States shall be read and construed as though references to the Director of Public Prosecutions of the relevant Northern States were references to the Attorney-General of the Federation, but shall include the Director of Public Prosecutions of the relevant Northern States to the extent that powers vested in the Attorney-General of the Federation have been delegated to such Director.

7. Preservation of certain matters in Criminal Procedure.

Notwithstanding the repeal of the Criminal Procedure Act by the Criminal Procedure Law, 1960, of the Northern States in respect of matters not preserved by this section-

(a)    Sections 402 to 412 of that Act (relating to deportation) shall continue to apply in respect of deportation into any of the Northern States from a place outside such State and from any of the Northern States to a place outside any such States; and

(b)    Sections 477 to 486 of that Act (relating to service and executions of process throughout Nigeria) shall continue to apply in and in relation to the Northern States.

APPENDIX

Sections 4 and 5

TABULAR STATEMENT OF OFFENCES

Explanatory Notes. –

1. The entries in the second and fifth columns of this Appendix, headed respectively “Offences” and Punishment under the Penal Code,” are not intended as definition of the offences and punishment described in the several corresponding sections of the Penal Code or even as abstracts of those sections, but merely as reference to the subject of the section, the number of which is given in the first column
2. By virtues of section 4 of the Criminal Code (Northern States) Act, any offence may be tried by any court mentioned in column 6.

CRIMINAL PROCEDURE (NORTHERN STATES) ACT

SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATION

No Subsidiary Legislation

ALPHABETICAL INDEX TO THE LAWS OF NIGERIA (UPDATED TO 2018)

LAWS MADE BY THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF NIGERIA [1999 – 2018]