AKPATA, JSC: (Delivering the Leading Judgment): Will a public officer who has committed, a criminal offence in purporting to carry out any public duty be immuned from prosecution if within three months of committing the offence he has not been charged to court? What is the meaning of the word "prosecution" within the context of the Public Officers Protection Law? These and other questions call for resolution in this judgment.
The appellant, who was, at the time material to this case, 3rd June, 1979, an Assistant Superintendent of Police, was arraigned as the third accused along with two others, first and second accused persons, before the Magistrate's Court, Oyo on a charge of unlawfully assaulting one Olayiwola Afolabi and causing him harm and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under section 296 of the Criminal Code Cap 28, Volume One, Laws of Western Nigeria 1959.
The facts of the case that led to the arrest and prosecution of the appellant and the first and sec…