Prosecution’s Witness. In any event, the Evidence of what a Party saw cannot
be Hearsay nor will Evidence of what he heard or Perceived or Witnessed be
termed as Hearsay. Reference is made to the dictum of NNAEMEKA, JSC IN
UTTEH VS THE STATE (1992)23 NSCC (PT.1) @ 236 and also
UMEOJIAKO VS EZENAMUO (1991) 21 NSCC (PT.1) @169.
The Defence had argued that the Extra-Judicial Statement of Ibrahim
Abubakar in Exhibit Z7 did not support the case of the Prosecution, as the
Statement was based on what Ibrahim Abubakar heard from Imam Ahmed
on the Purchase of the Property. Imam Ahmed was not called by the
Prosecution, thereby making the Statement, Documentary Hearsay. In the
case of OLUBODUN VS LAWAL (2008) 17 NWLR PT 1115AT 1 SC,
OGBUAGU JSC acknowledged that he never heard of anything called
documentary hearsay, ‘’there is no such provision under the evidence Act’’.
He referred to the then Evidence Act at Sections 77 and 92 to say that
Documentary evidence is the best evidence. See also the case of UTTEH VS
THE STATE (1992)23 NSCC (PT.1) @ 236.
The Court has exercised the necessary caution and has also considered other
Corroborative Evidence in evaluating this contention.
The Third Contention was in regard to the issue of Accomplice and Learned
Counsel challenged the evidence of PW10 Alhaji Tutare, the erstwhile
Commissioner for Finance stating that it was unsafe since he participated in
the commission of the Offence. He had taken N10 Million Naira out of the
N100 Million as well as a Mercedes Benz Car as payment for facilitating the
Water Project and this Payment was corroborated by the evidence of Alhaji
Usman Suleiman. Learned Counsel also pointed out that the IPO, PW9, said
that the ownership of the Property in Wuse was not traced to the Defendant.
Now, Section 198 of the Evidence Act 2011 (As Amended) provides for
Accomplice Evidence and as already defined above, the Court will only
additionally state that for a Witness to be an Accomplice, he must have
participated in the actual offence charged whether as Principal or Accessory
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