be untrue and therefore the 1st Defendant is entitled to be
discharged and acquitted in the instant case.
ISSUE THREE
At paragraphs 4.19 – 4.26 of the written address of the 1st
Defendant, learned Counsel submitted that for the prosecution
to secure conviction for forgery against the 1st Defendant, the
prosecution must prove the following ingredients: (a)
That the Accused utters or forges a document.
(b)
That he know the document to be false
(c)
That he presented the said document to the other party
with the intention that it could be acted upon.
(d)
That the document was acted upon by the other party to
his detriment. He relied on the cases of IDOWU V
STATE, (1998) 11 NWLR (pt 574) page 354 at 363
para E, ONTARIO OIL & GAS (NIG) LTD V FRN
(2015) LPELR 24651 (CA), ODIAWA V FRN (2008)
LPELR 4230 (CA) ALAKE V THE STATE, (1991) 7
NWLR (pt 205) page 567.
Learned Counsel submitted further that calling of a hand
writing analyst to establish a prima facie case of forgery by the
prosecution is a necessity and indispensable requirement. He
relied on the case of AITUMA V STATE, (2006) 10 NWLR
(pt 989) page 452 at 468 – 469 para D – A.
He submitted also that a party alleging forgery must of
necessity produce two documents before the Court i.e. the
original document before it was forged and the forged
document before the Court can determine whether indeed
there was a forgery. He relied on the case of ALL
PROGRESSIVE CONGRESS V PEOPLES DEMOCRATIC
PARTY & ORS, (2015) LPELR 24587 (SC).
In conclusion, the learned Counsel for the 1st Defendant
submitted that the prosecution failed to make out a prima facie
case of forgery against the 1st Defendant in that the
prosecution failed to call a hand writing analyst and also failed
to tender two sets of documents as required by law. He
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