Section 71 Administration of Criminal Justice Law (ACJL) Lagos

Section 71 Administration of Criminal Justice Law of Lagos State, as amended in 2021, is about Discontinuance of criminal cases by the Attorney-General. It provides as follows:

(1) In any criminal proceedings for an offence against a law of the State and at any stage before judgment, the Attorney-General of the State may discontinue the proceedings, either by himself or through officers of his Department and the defendant shall be discharged in respect of the charge or information immediately.

(2) If the defendant has been committed to prison he shall be released, or if on bail the recognisances shall be discharged, and, where the defendant is not before the Court when such discontinuance is entered, the Registrar or other proper officer of the Court shall immediately cause notice in writing of
the entry of such discontinuance to be given to the officer in charge of the prison or other place in which the defendant may be detained and such notice shall be sufficient authority to discharge the defendant or if the defendant is not in custody shall immediately cause such notice in writing to be given to the defendant and his sureties and shall in either case cause a similar notice in writing to be given to any witnesses bound over to prosecute.

(3) Where a discontinuance is entered in accordance with the provisions of this Section, the discharge of an accused person shall not operate as a bar to any subsequent proceedings against him on account of the same facts.

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