When the attorney general has reason to believe that a cause of action can be proved, the attorney general may bring an action in the name of the state, upon the complaint of a private person, or upon other information, against the person offending, in the following cases:
(1) when any person usurps, intrudes into, or unlawfully holds or exercises any public office or any franchise, or any office in a corporation created by authority of the state;
(2) when any public officer does or suffers an act which by law causes a forfeiture of office; or
(3) when an association or number of persons acts as a corporation without being duly incorporated.