The Director Of Public Prosecutions V Chike Obi (1961)

LawGlobal-Hub Lead Judgment Report

ADEMOLA, C.J.F

This matter was referred to this Court by the Chief Justice High Court of Lagos under section 108 of the Constitution of Nigeria which enjoins that any question as to the interpretation of the Constitution which involves a substantial question of law should be referred to the Federal Supreme Court. The defendant in the case was charged before the High Court of Lagos with sedition under section 51 (1) (c) of the Criminal Code. Section 51(1) of the Criminal Code reads as follows:-

51. (1) Any person who-

(a) does or attempts to do or makes any preparation to do, or conspires with any person to do, any act with a seditious intention;

(b) utters any seditious words;

(c) prints, publishes, sells, offers for sale, distributes or reproduces any seditious publication;

(d) imports any seditious publication, unless he has no reason to believe that it is seditious;

shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction for a first offence to imprisonment for two years or to a fine of one hundred pounds or to both such imprisonment and fine and for a subsequent offence to imprisonment for three years; and any seditious publication shall be forfeited to Her Majesty.

Section 50 (2) of the Criminal Code defines seditious intention thus:-

50. (2) A “seditious intention” is an intention-

(a) to bring into hatred or contempt or to excite disaffection against the person of Her Majesty, her heirs or successors, or the person of the Governor General or the Governor of a Region, or the Government or Constitution of the United Kingdom, or of Nigeria, or of any Region thereof, as by law established or against the administration of justice in Nigeria; or

(b) to excite Her Majesty’s subjects or inhabitants of Nigeria to attempt to procure the alteration, otherwise than by lawful means, of any other matter in Nigeria as by law established; or

(c) to raise discontent or disaffection amongst Her Majesty’s subjects or inhabitants of Nigeria; or

(d) to promote feelings of ill-will and hostility between different classes of the population of Nigeria.