& ANOR v. THE STATE [1991] 7 NWLR (PT. 205) 567 AT 593; IDOWU
v. STATE (1998) 11 NWLR (Pt. 574) 354 and AITUMA v. STATE [2007]
5 NWLR (PT. 1028) 466.
In the case at hand, it is noteworthy that the accused is charged with
having forged the land documents relating to Plots CP 1492 and MF
719D, Lugbe 1 Extension Layout, along Airport Road, Abuja, FCT,
but
both PW2 and PW4 called by the prosecution insisted in their oral
testimony before this court that the land documents given to them by
the accused are neither forged nor fake, whilst PW1 and PW3 insisted
that the documents are forged. Since one of the ingredients that must
be established in a charge of forgery is that the document was forged, it
seems to me that this constitutes a material contradiction in the case
put forward by the prosecution which is fundamental to the main issues
crying for resolution before the court. See EFFA v. THE STATE (1999) 6
SCNJ 92 at 98 (per Ejiwunmi, JSC). The relevant enquiry therefore is
whether this court is at liberty to accept or act upon these patently
contradictory testimonies given by the prosecution witnesses.
The law, as I have always understood it, is that where two or more
witnesses testify in a criminal prosecution and the testimony of such
witnesses is contradictory and irreconcilable, it would be illogical to
accept and believe the evidence of such witnesses. See AGBO v. STATE
supra at 564; ONUGBOGU v. THE STATE (1974) 9 SC 1 at 20;
NASAMU v. STATE (1979) 6-9 SC 153 and AMADI & ORS v. STATE
(1993) 11 SCNJ 68 at 78. The obvious implication of the foregoing is
that the prosecution has not succeeded in establishing one of the
essential ingredients in the absence of which a charge of forgery cannot
be sustained.
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