WHEN AN APPELLATE COURT CAN INTERFERE WITH EVIDENCE RELIED UPON BY THE LOWER COURTS

WHEN AN APPELLATE COURT CAN INTERFERE WITH EVIDENCE RELIED UPON BY THE LOWER COURTS

Saheed Afeez Ayinde

DEEMLAWFUL

The Law is clear and free of harm when positioned the principle in the case of (Eyo v Onuoha (201 1) 11 NWLR (Pt. 1257) 1 at 38) that the court of appellate will not interfere in the findings of the lower court as well as the evidence relied upon.

However, the appellate court, will once in a blue moon, interfere, where the there’s substative error in the findings of the lower and the evidence relied upon inorder to rectify knotted error.

This has been echoed in the case of Adelumola v. The State (1988) 1 NWLR (pt. 73) 683.

As per Oputa, JSC, so aptly put in his wordings;

…we allknow that 2 plus 2 makes 4. If a witness testifies that 2 plus 2 makes 5 and he is believed, his arithmetic does not cease to be wrong because the trial C ourt erroneously believed him. There, and in such a case, an appellate Court can intervene.