I saw a lot of influencers post Blord’s Criminal Charge Sheet that bears “Inspector General of Police v Linus Williams”, and with so much confidence, they began lecturing their followers that VeryDarkMan connived with the new IGP, and that was why the name of the IGP appeared as the person that sued Blord instead of it bearing Martins Otse.
That kind of conclusion is not just wrong, it is painfully ignorant.
I will take a few paragraphs to enlighten some of you on how Nigerian criminal procedure works on this subject matter, so that most of you do not fall into that same category of ignorance again.
In Nigeria, when someone commits a crime against you, the law does not allow you to personally fight that battle by yourself. All you need to do is complain to the Police through a petition. It is the Police, or whichever security agency you petition, that files the action against the person.
The reason is simple.
The State (and by State, I mean the government and its security agencies) acts like a father to all citizens. So, any crime committed against an individual is seen in law as a crime committed against the State itself.
That is why all VeryDarkMan needed to do was report to the Police, and nothing more.
Again, if a person commits a crime that is against the laws of a particular State, and the State Police intends to prosecute that crime, the case will usually bear the name of the “Commissioner of Police” as the nominal party.
In similar vein, if someone commits a federal offence that is to be prosecuted by the Police in Abuja, it will bear the name of the “Inspector General of Police” as a nominal party.
Now, you may then ask, who is a nominal party to a criminal suit?
A nominal party to a criminal suit is a person who has no direct or personal interest in the outcome of the case, but is included on the record due to the official position he occupies.
So, the mere fact that the name of the IGP appeared in the suit does not mean he connived to commit Blord to prison.
In fact, it is very possible that the IGP may never even know about the suit until it goes viral on social media.
That is the part many people do not understand. There are thousands of suits that are brought with the name of Inspector General of Police daily by the Nigeria Police that even the IGP is not aware.
So, when next you hear people say otherwise, be rightly informed.
And lastly, if this case goes on, VeryDarkMan’s role is only to give evidence as to what Blord did, and nothing more. The remaining procedures are usually handled and conducted by the Police to the finish.
It is even possible for him to later try to withdraw the matter and the Police may refuse.
The only thing is that, by then, the Police may not be assisted with enough evidence to successfully prosecute.
That is how criminal law works in Nigeria.
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