JUDICIARY
Tendering Fresh Evidence at Supreme Court is Herculean Task–Erokoro, SAN
A legal luminary, Mr Paul Erokoro, SAN, says tendering additional evidence at the Supreme Court is an uphill task that requires a great deal of effort.
According to him, the rules admitting fresh evidence at the Supreme Court are very stringent.
Erokoro made the remark on Sunday in Abuja in an interview on the type of evidence that can be admitted at the Supreme Court.
He said the general rule is that additional evidence is not encouraged at the apex court.
“The general rules is that additional evidence at the Supreme Court or any Court of Appeal is not encouraged at all, but that doesn’t mean that it is totally forbidden.
“However, the rules for admitting it are very stringent.
“The first is that such evidence is going to be extremely material to the resolution of the issues in the case. That’s one of the hurdles to be crossed.
“The second hurdle is that such evidence could not have been procured during the trial at the trial court by reasonable diligence.
“So it is either the evidence was not available at the time of the trial or it could not, by any kind of due diligence or any reasonable effort, be made available.
“For evidence to be admissible at the Supreme Court or in any Court of Appeal, it has to, at a very minimum, satisfied those two conditions,” he said.
On whether there are provisions in the constitution allowing a party to tender additional evidence at the apex court, the senior lawyer said: “Most of these rules are case laws and the Evidence Act does not specifically make these provisions.”
He stressed that it is only backed by the rules of the court.
“In the case of election petition, the constitution requires that the proceeding be concluded within 180 days at the election tribunal which, in the case of the presidential election, is the Court of Appeal.
“So the Court of Appeal which may have power to admit additional evidence cannot have any jurisdiction if the jurisidtcion of the trial court has expired.
“For instance, if a Court of Appeal has within six months to hear and conclude a presidential election matter and the six months have expired, even if the Supreme Court wanted to admit an additional evidence, it doesn’t seem to me that it would be able to admit such evidence after the expiration of the six months,” he said.
According to him, if such evidence becomes available, it is very likely that it cannot be admitted on appeal.
“This is because it may not meet the jurisdictional requirement which is that a court which has jurisidtcion to do it, will it have done it at this time?
“And if the period available for the trial court has expired, there is nothing the Appeal Court, in this case, the Supreme Court, can do,” he said.
Erokoro said that the Supreme Court or any appellate court in the country had 60 days within which to hear and conclude election matters.
He said even though the Supreme Court has jurisidtcion to hear the appeal, it would have jurisdiction only in relation to the appeal.
“The fact that the Supreme Court has only two months within which to hear the appeal will not revive the jurisdiction of the trial court,” he added.
On whether there is a period within which a Supreme Court can admit additional evidence, Erokoro said: “Except when it is dealing with matters that have come before it under its original jurisidtcion, the Supreme Court doesn’t, generally, admit evidence.
“It is an appeal court and its function is to see whether the matter was properly tried at the trial court, and not to admit additional evidence.
“It’s just that there are few exceptions to the rules regards that and those exceptions, I have already explained to you.
“But outside that, the Supreme Court, generally, doesn’t like to admit additional evidence because it is not fair to the trial court which did not hear that.
“Two, you will not give the other party the chance to, maybe, gather evidence that could have contradicted that one.
“So that is why the rules are very strict and that’s why you don’t see it happening all the time.”
He said though the move could succeed, he described it as “an uphill task.”
When asked about grounds that an already decided case can be reviewed at the Supreme Court, he said though the grounds are not determined by law, there are rules of trial that are universal in Nigeria.
“One of them is whether due process was followed, admissible evidence rejected or inadmissible evidence admitted, if trial court failed to act fairly to both sides, if the lower court made mistake as regard the law to be applied, etc.
“So there are so many possibilities that the grounds of appeal can be built around,” he said.
Erokoro said though it was reported in the media that Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)’s presidential candidate in the Feb. 25 poll, planned to file new evidence at the apex court, it was still in the realm of speculation.
“This is actually within the realm of speculation because I have not seen the evidence beyond what the press has reported and I don’t know whether those who issued the documents are prepared to come to court, otherwise, there is a risk of what is called, ‘documentary hearsay,’” he said.
NAN reports Abubakar on Friday sought the leave of the Supreme Court to bring in fresh additional evidence to prove that President Tinubu submitted a forged certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in aid of his qualification for the presidential election.The documents Atiku sought to tender are Tinubu’s academic records, which were handed over to him by Chicago State University (CSU) on Monday, October 2, 2023.
The 32-page documents were released to the former Vice President on the orders of Judge Nancy Maldonado of the District Court of Illinois, Eastern Division, Illinois, U.S. (NAN)
The Department of State Services (DSS), on Thursday, tendered a generated copy of the message posted by Omoyele Sowore on his social media handles where he allegedly defamed President Bola Tinubu as evidence at the Federal High Court in Abuja.
The DSS also played the video evidence of President Tinubu’s speech made on Aug.
26, 2025, during his state’s visit to Brazil, before Justice Mohammed Umar in establishing its cyberstalking charge against Sowore, the publisher of Sahara Reporters.Both the message and the video recording in a flash drive were admitted in evidence and marked as exhibits by Justice Umar after counsel for the defendant, Marshal Abubakar, reserved his objection and until final written addresses stage.
The development occurred when the security agency’s 1st prosecution witness (PW-1) and an operative of the service, Cyril Nosike, was being led in evidence by its lawyer, Akinlolu Kehinde, SAN.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Sowore is being prosecuted for referring to the president as “criminal” in his X and Meta handles.
In the amended charge, marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/484/2025 and filed on Dec. 5, Sowore is named as sole defendant.
Although Sowore, X Incorp (formerly Twitter) and Meta (Facebook) Incorp were listed in the earlier charge as 1st, 2nd and 3rd defendants respectively, in the amended charge, the names of 2nd and 3rd defendants were dropped.
Testifying, Nosike said he works at the Cyberspace Monitoring Centre of the service.
According to my duty is to monitor the cyberspace 24 hours, night and day.
“I am here to give evidence in support of the charges filed against the defendant,” he said.
Narrating how he came across Sowore’s post, he said: “On the 26th of August, 2025, in the course of my duty at the Cyberspace Monitoring Centre, I detected and monitored a post by the defendant through his X handle.
“The post was referenced as such: ‘This criminal @officialABAT actually went to Brazil to say that there is no more corruption under his regime in Nigeria. What an audacity to lie shamelessly.’”
The witness explained that the X handle; “@officialABAT” is the official X handle of the President and Commander-In-Chief of Nigeria.
He said after he came across the president’s video, he downloaded it and saved it in a flash drive and marked the flash drive as “XYZ.”
He said he equally had a certificate of compliance of to back this in compliance with the Evidence Act.
The judge admitted the flash drive as Exhibit “A” and the certificate of compliance as Exhibit “B” after Abubakar said he would respond in appropriate time.
The video recording was then played for some minutes.
The video showed President Tinubu speaking about the achievements of his administration and encouraged the Brazilians to invest in Nigeria because there was now a conducive business environment, where there is no more corruption.
Nosike said when he saw Sowore’s post, he made a screenshot of it, including the reaction and a certificate of compliance to back it.
The judge equally admitted these in evidence and marked them as Exhibits “C” and “C1” after the defendant’s lawyer reserved his objection.
When the DSS lawyer asked the witness what his office did seeing the post, he said: “Seeing the reactions from this post, the DSS wrote a letter officially to the owners of X and Facebook, which is Meta, through their email addresses.
“We also have the screenshot of the letter and certificate of compliance
“The letter was for them to take down the post considering that the statement on that post was generating lots of tension.”
The screenshot of the letter was marked at Exhibit “D” by the judge.
The witness further told the court that tye DSS also wrote a letter to Sowore through his lawyers and that they also acknowledged the receipt of the letter.
According to him, the letter was a demand to retract that post.
Justice Umar admitted it in evidence and marked it as Exhibit “E” after Abubakar reserved his objection.
The witness said after Sowore received the letter, despite being a classified information, “he went ahead to post this on his X and Meta platforms.”
According to him, as expected, the letter also garnered reactions from Nigerians and the content of the reactions of that letter were far-reaching and painted the service in bad light.
The officer said he made a screenshot of the post and had a certificate of compliance in support and it was admitted as Exhibit “F.”
The witness told the court that Sowore’s inciting posts made their work, as security agencies, complicated.
“We have officers and men who have sworn on oath to put themselves on the line for the security and stability of this country.
“Such inciting posts that generate tension, make our work more difficult and we take such issues very seriously,” Nosike said.
When Abubakar was directed to cross-examine the witness, he prayed the court to allow him study the evidence of the witness.
He, therefore, sought an adjournment to February but DSS counsel objected.
Kehinde argued that Section 396(3) of Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015, stipulates day-to-day trial after arraignment.
He said there was no basis for Abubakar’s plea for adjournment.
Justice Umar subsequently adjourned the matter until Jan. 27 for cross-examination of the PW-1 and continuation of hearing.
Gov. Douye Diri of Bayelsa says the judiciary remains the hope of the common man in the society, charging officers in the temple of justice to always strive to be upright.Diri said this on Friday in Yenagoa at a Thanksgiving/Valedictory Court Section for the commencement of the 2025/2026 Legal Year in the state.
The governor said: “It has become an annual ritual but we all know that the bible says seek ye first the kingdom of God and all other things shall be added on to thee. “Today we are handing over this new legal year to God for His protection to the judiciary. I believe you are going to do beyond our expectations with God on your side.“In this country today without exception, I appeal to us Nigerians, Bayelsa people to allow the judiciary to be used by God, to be allowed to work to the best of their ability and conscience to deliver incorruptible and sound judgement.”Diri said that the trust of the public lies with the judiciary which demands justice for all manner of people, irrespective of the class in the society.The governor urged the judiciary especially the judges to always stand tall on what is right, as they are highly autonomous as an arm of the government.On her part, Justice Matilda Ayemieye, the Chief Judge of Bayelsa, commended the Bayelsa government for the support in various ways to ensure that the judiciary is autonomous.She said that the judiciary enjoys cordial working relationship with the Nigeria Bar Association, the Legislature and the Executive.The chief judge said that the new legal year allows them to assess the previous year, adding that it is a day of accountability towards the people they serve and to strengthen the rule of law.Ayemieye said that the Bayelsa judiciary aspires to be one of the best judiciary as they have earned respect among other judiciary in the country.Also, Mr Biriyai Dambo (SAN) the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, expressed happiness over the commencement of the new legal year.He said that they are committed to service delivery in Bayelsa and commended the bar and the bench for their hard work to ensure that justice is served in Bayelsa.The Commissioner said that for the past years the judicial system had changed and that the welfare of the judiciary and that of the Ministry Justice is one of the priorities of Diri’s administration which has paid in full all monies owed law officers.“This current administration has boosted the morale of law officers, as they have contributed to the justice delivery in Bayelsa state.“This current administration has equally assisted the NBA Yenagoa and Sagbama branches respectively. My office is wide open to enhance the justice system in Bayelsa state,” he said. (NAN)
The Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed cybercrime charges filed by the Inspector-General of Police against a female medical doctor, Bolanle Aseyan. Delivering judgment on Friday, Justice Peter Lifu discharged and acquitted Aseyan, stating that the police failed to prove the essential elements of the alleged offences.
The Inspector-General had arraigned Aseyan on a four-count charge of defamation, harassment, and intimidation against another doctor, Olufunmilayo Ogunsanya. The police alleged that Aseyan used social media platforms to harm Ogunsanya’s reputation. He was said to be her former boyfriend. The charges were filed under Section 24 of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention) Act, which addresses online threats and cyber harassment. To support the case, the police presented three witnesses. Aseyan also called two witnesses to testify in her defence during the trial. Justice Lifu, while reviewing the matter, noted both doctors were once in a romantic relationship before it turned sour. He further observed that the two had sexual relations while in the United Kingdom and later made conflicting social media posts against each other. The judge held that the prosecution failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt and therefore could not secure a conviction. Specifically, the judge said the defendant’s alleged Twitter handle used in the cyberbullying was not tendered as evidence before the court. Justice Lifu also said there was no proof of threats or intimidation, but rather evidence of a previous affectionate relationship. Consequently, the judge dismissed all four charges, discharged and acquitted Aseyan, and declared the case closed. He ordered the police to immediately return all seized items, including her international passport, upon service of the judgment. Aseyan said she met Ogunsanya online in 2019 and travelled to the United Kingdom in 2020, where she claimed she was raped. She stated that upon arrival in Leeds on March 7, 2020, tired and disoriented, Ogunsanya offered her wine shortly after she got to his home. She alleged that after taking the drink, she passed out and later woke up to find that he had allegedly had sex with her without consent. Aseyan further claimed that Ogunsanya maltreated her before she returned to Nigeria shortly after the alleged incident. (NAN)
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