AN APPRAISAL OF PROVOCATION AS A DEFENCE TO CRIMINAL LIABILITY IN NIGERIA

ABSTRACT One of the defences open to an accused which may exculpate or mitigate him from criminal liability is provocation. The law recognizes that human beings are prone to losing their control under extreme rage and should they react violently, justice demands that account be taken of this natural tendency of theirs in inflicting punishment. The aim and objective of this research work is to access the meaning of provocation as provided for under the Penal and Criminal Codes and other relevant statutes, case laws and books by various authors, its nature, elements and the condition under which provocation can be used as a defence. The writer made use of the doctrinal approach in the course of the research. Some of the findings in this study are that, the criminal act which leads to death or injury must have been caused by the accused upon provocation induced by the deceased or victim which may be by words or conduct and this must have been offered before the accused have had time for his passion to cool. The injury inflicted must also be proportional and must be one as would have caused a reasonable man to resort to the same consequence. From the findings, the writer recommends that there should be a unification of the criminal law statutes, that is, the Penal and Criminal Code to ensure certainty and predictability. Also, the reasonable man test should be modified to provide for consistency in court judgement.In conclusion, provocation may be raised as a defence in homicide cases, assault and defamation offences to either mitigate the punishment (homicide cases) or completely exonerate the accused of criminal liability (assault).