“Since Section 47 of the Constitution authorises the Attorney General to exercise his Constitutional powers in person or through the Director of Public Prosecutions or other officers, a prosecution instituted by the Director of Public Prosecutions ranks in law as if it had been instituted by the Attorney General personally and no further evidence of consent is necessary. The question whether the Director of Public Prosecutions can validly consent on behalf of the Attorney General to the institution of a prosecution by someone else does not arise in these proceedings. The question whether in instituting these proceedings the Director of Public Prosecutions was acting in accordance with any instructions he may have received from the Attorney General has no bearing on the question whether the proceedings were validly instituted and is not one into which the Court can inquire. Generally, there is no need for a judge to know what instructions the Attorney General has given to the Director of Public Prosecutions in regard to the conduct of a case and the Courts must normally take it for granted that if the Director of Public Prosecutions begins a prosecution under Section 47 of the Criminal Code, he has done so in accordance with the instructions given him by the Attorney General, for Sub-section (9) of Section 47 of the Constitution of Western Nigeria provides that: “(9) Except at the instance of the Attorney General of the Region, the question whether he has given any instructions in pursuance of this Section, or what the instructions were,shall not be enquired into by any Court of law.”

Per ADETOKUNBO ADEGBOYEGA ADEMOLA, JSC in A.G., WESTERN NIGERIA V. THE AFRICAN PRESS (1965) LCER-337(SC) (Pp 9 – 11 Paras D – A)