KOLO v. COMMISSIONER OF POLICE

Upon his conviction and sentence by the trial Magistrate, the appellants was dissatisfied and lodged an appeal before the appellate Division of the Jigawa State High Court and raised a sole issue to wit:-
“Whether or not the lower trial Magistrate, “Senior Magistrate has jurisdiction to try and determine the offence under Section 389 of Penal Code Laws of Jigawa State.
After hearing argument from both sides, the High Court in its reserved judgment delivered on 17/09/2013, dismissed the appeal and held inter alia:-
“We have perused the certified printed record of proceedings and found that there is substantial compliance with Section 157 of the Criminal Procedure Code. We therefore have no reasons to tamper with same.
Unsuccessful at the High Court, the appellant appealed further to the Court of Appeal (the Court below) which in its decision affirmed the judgment of the Jigawa State High Court.
Again and being unhappy with the decision of the lower Court, the appellant is now before us vide his notice of appeal filed on the 22nd December, 2014
Briefly the statements of facts leading to this appeal are as follows:-
The appellant is a Professor and a Lecturer at the Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Kaduna State while the victim (married woman) was his student of the University. He was arraigned before a Chief Magistrate Court, Kiyawa, some twenty five kilometers from Dutse, for enticing a married woman contrary to Section 389 of the Penal Code.
The appellant was arraigned while in company of his counsel, one Mr. Gausu Esq., and having pleaded guilty to the contents of the First Information Report (FIR). It was disclosed on the face of the FIR that the appellant had confessed to the Commission of the offence during police investigation.
It was stated clearly on the face of the FIR that the appellant had been sending love messages via his phone number to the married woman through her phone number as contained on the First Information Report. It was stated further on the said Report that the appellant had been warned severally by the husband of the woman both face to face and on phone to stay away from her but he refused until when he was caught red handed with the woman in a hotel room; that the appellant had left his place and traveled for up to four hundred kilometers from Zaria, Kaduna State to Dutse, Jigawa State and took the woman to a hotel as contained on the First Information Report.
It was alleged further that the appellant was arrested by the police in the Hotel Room and later charged to Court for enticing a married woman contrary to Section 389 of the Penal Code; that when the charge was read over to the appellant in the presence of his counsel, he pleaded guilty thereto presumably on the advise of his counsel. The trial Magistrate convicted and sentenced the appellant to two months imprisonment. On successive appeals to the High Court and Court of Appeal, both were dismissed and hence the appeal now before us.
In accordance with the rules of Court, briefs were settled and exchanged between the parties. While the appellants brief was settled by one Ibrahim Idris, Esq. and filed on the 20th April, 2015 that of the respondent was by one Sani Hussaini Garun Gabbas the Attorney-General of Jigawa State and filed on 18th November, 2015.
On the 24th November, 2016 when the appeal was heard, both counsels were in Court and they adopted, also relied on their respective briefs of arguments. The learned counsel for the appellant adumbrated on his brief and urged that the appeal be allowed while the judgments of the lower Courts are to be set aside and the appellant should be acquitted and discharged accordingly. The learned Attorney-General for the respondent however, submitted in favour of dismissing the appeal and urged that the conviction and sentence are to be affirmed.

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