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ABSTRACT
This essay seeks to re-appraise the provision of section 24 of the Criminal Code in the light of recent judgments of the highest court in Nigeria. There have been great debates in many jurisdictions as to what level of mental state an accused person must possess in order to be held criminally responsible for his/her act or omission. The issue is whether culpability is a function of purpose, knowledge, recklessness or negligence or whetherliability is attainable irrespectiveof these mental states. This issue, no doubt, boarders on the relevance of the English common law doctrine of mensrea. However, in Nigeria, section 24 together with section 25 seems to not only complement, but also cover the field of the common law requirement of mensrea and perform the same function without harbouring its characteristic complexities. Yet, there seems to be that a lack of comprehensive understanding of the Criminal Code provision has led to some judicial misapplication. The draftsman, as it were, wanted by these sections to free Nigerian criminal justice from the ‘enslavement’ of the mensrea doctrine.
