“No, I have not made any statement”. The 2nd defendant while given his evidence-in-chief as DW2 testified as follows:“We were then transferred to CID Office, where I was beaten with sticks”. However, both 1st and 2nd defendants testified as DW1 and DW2 to the fact that they were all beaten by some unknown people who accused them of stealing the motorcycle and taken to hospital by the police for treatment after they were arrested with various injuries. The 1st defendant testified as follows:“I was at abattoir together with Abubakar Mustapha (the 2nd defendant) and he requested me to accompany him to his grandparents’ home, as we were on the way, somebody hit me and Abubakar from behind, and I then asked Abubakar what was happening, he told me that it was some people who were beating us of stealing someone’s motorcycle.” The 2nd defendant as DW2 also testified as follows:“While on our way back and before we reach the main road, I just had somebody hitting me from behind on my head”. As to the statement of the 1st defendant who denied making any statement at CID office Sokoto while testifying as DW1, the issue of involuntariness does not therefore arise. Because it is trite law that mere retraction of voluntary confessional statement of an accused which was apparently corroborated by other independent evidence (as Page 14 of 22

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