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24 judgments found.
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April 2015
Conviction based on weak visual identification and unexplained delay in naming the suspect was quashed.
Criminal procedure — Identification evidence — contradictions and delay in naming suspects — Unexplained delay in naming suspect and failure to record timing of arrest undermine prosecution case
Evidence — Visual identification — Waziri Aman criteria and reliability of recognition by a familiar witness — Reliability and necessity to eliminate possibilities of mistaken identity
30 April 2015
Conviction for attempt to commit unnatural offence quashed due to contradictions and misapprehension of evidence.
Criminal law — Sexual offence (unnatural offence) — Attempted unnatural offence — Proof requires evidence of commencement of undressing
Criminal procedure — second appeal — interference only in cases of misapprehension of evidence, miscarriage of justice or legal error — Interference with factual findings where lower courts misapprehend evidence or add unsupported facts
Evidence — Child witness voire dire — Voir dire — Age threshold for 'tender age' testimony
29 April 2015
Omission to cite the enabling provision in a Notice of Motion renders the application incompetent and may be struck out with costs.
Civil procedure
— Costs
— Preliminary objections
— striking out
29 April 2015
Court granted stay of execution pending appeal where applicants showed substantial loss and provided a bank guarantee.
Civil procedure — Stay of execution — Conditions for Granting Stay
— Notice of appeal, absence of unreasonable delay, substantial loss, security (Rule 11(2), Court of Appeal Rules 2009)
— Likelihood of success not a prerequisite, Court to apply cumulative Rule 11(2) conditions
— Security as condition for stay, bank guarantee as ordered
29 April 2015
Appellants ordered to amend the record to substitute proper parties and file a supplementary record within 14 days.
Civil procedure — amendment of record of appeal — Substitution of parties — Duty on appellants to effect amendments under rule 111 Court of Appeal — Adjournment to permit compliance
27 April 2015
Court refused to delete a named applicant without proof and ordered proper service before proceeding.
Civil procedure — Amendment of parties
— court will not delete a named party on counsel’s oral assertion of non-existence where the party appears on record
— requirement of proper service before hearing
— stay of execution application adjourned for service
27 April 2015
Revision application dismissed for want of prosecution where applicants' advocate failed to appear and no good cause was shown.
Civil procedure — Court of appeal rules
— Adjournment
— Dismissal for want of prosecution under Rule 4(2)(a) where applicant's advocate fails to appear and no good cause shown
Civil procedure — Revision — Application to call High Court record to assess correctness of order
27 April 2015
Court quashed convictions for failure to follow statutory plea-taking procedure and ordered appellants' release.
Criminal procedure — Plea-taking
25 April 2015
An application under Rule 89(2) is incompetent where the applicant/respondent was not served with the notice of appeal as required by Rule 84(1).
Civil procedure — Court of appeal procedure
24 April 2015
Trial of economic offences by a subordinate court without D.P.P. consent or certificate is void; convictions quashed and release ordered.
Appellate practice — Revisionary powers — Court of Appeal may nullify, quash and set aside void proceedings under s.4(2) AJA — Appellate Jurisdiction Act s.4(2)
Criminal law — Economic offences — requirement of DPP consent and certificate of transfer for subordinate courts to try economic offences — s.26(1) & s.12(3) Economic and Organised Crime Control Act
Criminal procedure — joinder of offences — Requirement for D.P.P. certificate to try economic and non-economic offences in subordinate courts — EOCCA ss.12(3), 12(4)
24 April 2015
Trial was a nullity for wrong jurisdictional certificate; proceedings quashed and retrial refused due to prosecution gaps.
Criminal law — Admissibility
— Revision
— valuation certificate issued
Criminal law — Jurisdiction — Economic and non-economic offences — defect renders trial a nullity
Criminal law — Retrial — discretionary and refused where prosecution could fill evidentiary gaps
24 April 2015
Application for extension of time struck out for failure to first apply to the High Court under Rule 47.
Appellate practice — extension of time to file notice of appeal — Requirement to file first in High Court under Rule 47 read with s.11(1) Appellate Jurisdiction Act — Rule 47 (Court of Appeal Rules)
Civil practice and procedure — Notice of appeal, application for leave to appeal and application for a certified copy of the proceedings of the High Court filed within prescribed time — Failure to file written submissions within 60 days as required by Rule 106(1) — Competence of application (objection raised but not determined)
23 April 2015
An application to this Court was misconceived; extension to lodge a late notice of appeal must be sought in the High Court.
Civil procedure
— Appeal procedure
— Court of Appeal — Misconceived application — Court may strike out applications seeking relief in the wrong forum
— extension of time — Where notice of appeal is late, extension must be sought in the High Court under
23 April 2015
Convictions quashed where search, chain-of-custody and fair-hearing requirements were not met and evidence was weak.
Criminal law — Circumstantial evidence — flight insufficient for conviction
Criminal law — Right to be heard
— Conviction quashed where evidence and procedure defective
— omission
Criminal law — Search and seizure — non-compliance with s.38 CPA
22 April 2015
Stay application struck out as incompetent for lacking a notice of appeal against the executable order sought to be stayed.
Arbitration — registration of arbitral award as a drawn order
— Court’s revisional powers not to be used in interlocutory stay applications lacking sufficient material
— executability and appealability of an order incorporating an award
— Time for filing stay application runs from lodging notice of appeal (60 days)
22 April 2015
Uncorroborated night-time visual identification and inconsistent witness evidence failed to prove the appellant's guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
Criminal law
— Evidence — proof beyond reasonable doubt — Onus on prosecution and benefit of doubt
— Visual identification — requirement that identification evidence be watertight — Caution in night identifications
21 April 2015
Court upheld conviction: on‑scene visual and voice identification by familiar witnesses deemed reliable despite procedural evidentiary gaps.
Criminal law
— Evidence — effect on prosecution case
— identification evidence — Visual and voice identification by on‑scene, familiar witnesses under moonlight/firelight — Reliability and sufficiency
Criminal procedure
— identification parade — not always necessary where witnesses are familiar
— Search and seizure — non‑compliance with s.38(3) and expungement of evidence
21 April 2015
Convictions quashed for unlawful search, absent chain of custody and denial of the right to present defence.
Criminal procedure — Search and seizure
— chain of custody not established
— conviction quashed, no retrial ordered due to weak prosecution case
— insufficiency of evidence to ground conviction
— non-compliance with section 38 CPA
20 April 2015
Application to set aside ex parte order was incompetent and time‑barred, thus rejected and struck out with costs.
Civil procedure — setting aside ex parte orders
— proper provision
— wrong citation of enabling rule renders application incompetent
Civil procedure — time bars
— amended Order VIII Rule 2 (GN No. 422/1994) imposes 21‑day limit for extension
— jurisdictional/preliminary objections may be raised at any stage
17 April 2015
Suit struck out for non‑joinder of the mortgagor and failure to state when the cause of action arose.
Civil procedure
— Non-joinder of necessary parties — Non‑joinder of mortgagor required under Order XXXII Rule 1(1)
— Order VII (pleadings) — Cause of action — Failure to state when cause of action arose (Order VII Rule 1(e))
17 April 2015
Applicant failed to show good cause for extension of time to seek revision of appealable High Court rulings.
Appellate practice — Revisional vs appellate jurisdiction — Revision
Civil procedure
— Costs — no order as to costs in employment-origin matters
— extension of time
— Illegality as ground for extension
15 April 2015
Rape conviction quashed due to procedural irregularities and unreliable identification evidence.
Criminal procedure — Admission of exhibits — right to call medical officer
Criminal procedure — Cautioned statement — improper tendering
Criminal procedure — child witness — voir dire — improper reception
Criminal procedure — Identification evidence — delay and non‑description
— Conviction quashed for insufficiency of properly admissible evidence
— risk of mistaken identity
15 April 2015
Revision refused because the challenged High Court ruling was interlocutory and not subject to revision under section 5(2)(d).
Appellate practice — Appellate jurisdiction act s.5(2)(d) — interlocutory or preliminary decisions
— interlocutory proceedings defined
— no appeal or revision lies unless the decision finally determines the suit
Appellate practice — Order VIII B CPC — remittal to High Court
14 April 2015
A notice of appeal that misstates the decision or sentence is defective and cannot institute a competent appeal.
Appellate practice — notice and petition of appeal — Requirement that each appellant lodge a notice of appeal (Court of Appeal Rules r.68(1)) — Rule 68, Court of Appeal Rules, 2009
13 April 2015