WHETHER A FRESH POINT CAN BE RAISED DURING APPEAL

Saheed Afeez Ayinde

DEEMLAWFUL

The court of appellates, as the name implies, are meant to entertain matters that has been entertained by the court of first instance. Hence, They entertain the A to Z of the particular case without removing nor adding to it but to determine the contending issues in the A to Z.

Thence, the court of Appellates, will not entertain the raising fresh point in any forms or shape except in special circumstances as defined below; A fresh point is a matter that was not canvassed at the trial nor in the Court of Appeal, See Mohammed V. State (1991) 5 NWLR (Pt. 192) 438 at 453 SC.

In furtherance, The position had met clarity in the wordings of per Iguh, Jsc, in the case below

Akpabio v. State (1994) 7 NWLR (Pt35 9) 635 SC,

The question as to exclusion of the statement in issue was neither raised before nor pronounced by the Court below. It was, in fact, neither made a ground of appeal in that Court nor before us.

It is well to bear in mind -that an appellate Court will not generally allow a fresh point to be taken before it if such a point was not raised and pronounced upon by the Court below unless of course, the question involves substantial points of Iaw and no further evidence needs be adduced to determine the matter and such a course of action is necessary to prevent an obvious miscarriage of justice.