In the case of VICTOR ISONGUYO VS STATE (2023) 3 NWLR (PT. 1872) 519, the Supreme Court held thus: “A court should not decide a case on mere conjecture or speculation. Court of laws are courts of facts and law. They decide issues on facts established before them and on law. They must avoid speculation. A court cannot decide issues on speculation, no matter how close what it relies on may seem to be on the facts. Speculation is not an aspect of inference that may be drawn from facts that are laid before the Court. Inference is a reasonable deduction from facts, whereas speculation is a mere variant of imaginative guess which, even when it appears plausible should never be allowed by a court of law to feel any hiatus in the evidence before it.”
A COURT’S FINDING IS PERVERSE WHERE IT IS SPECULATIVE
Evaluation of evidence and the ascription of probative value is the primary duty of the trial Court that saw and assessed the credibility of the witnesses. The appellate Court that does not enjoy this much advantage cannot, on the basis of the cold facts on record, interfere with the trial Court’s findings of fact unless...