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INFORMATION FED INTO THE COMPUTER AND PRINTED IS NOT COMPUTER-GENERATED DOCUMENT

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Furthermore, this tribunal agrees in toto with the submission of the Petitioner’s counsel, that the argument of the 2nd Respondent on the inadmissibility of Exhibit P169, on account of the fact that it is a computer generated document, is misconceived. We agree that the report is a product of information fed into the computer and printed and such documents are different from computer generated documents. If not so, its implication is, that every information fed into a computer by anyone would have to be certificate compliant, which is definitely not the intention of Section 84 of the Evidence 2011 and we so hold.

— A. Osadebay, J. APC v INEC & Ors. (EPT/KN/GOV/01/2023, 20th Day of September, 2023)

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computer generated evidence

PROOF THAT COMPUTER IS RELIABLE CAN BE DONE BY ORAL EVIDENCE OR WRITTEN CERTIFICATE

R v. Shephard [1993] 1 All ER 225: “Proof that the computer is reliable can be provided in two ways: either by calling oral evidence or by tendering a written certificate subject to the power of the Judge to require oral evidence. It is understandable that if a certificate is to be relied upon it should show on its face that it is signed by a person who from his job description can confidently be expected to be in a person to give reliable evidence about the operation of the computer. This enables the defendant to decide whether to accept at its face value or to ask the Judge to require oral evidence which can be challenged in cross examination.”

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BECAUSE COMPUTER GENERATED DOCUMENT IS ANNEXED TO A NON-COMPUTER GENERATED DOCUMENT

In an avowed bid to amputate the long arm of the provision of Section 84 of the Evidence Act, 2011, the first respondent invented two defences to insulate and consolidate the admission of the document. The first is that the document is an annexure to another document and exempt from the requirement of the provision....

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TO TENDER COMPUTER GENERATED EVIDENCE, SUCH MUST COMPLY WITH SECTION 84(2)

It has been established firmly that a computer – generated document can only be admitted in evidence upon compliance with the requirements of Section 84 of the Evidence Act, 2011. Thus a party that seeks to tender in evidence such a document must lead evidence to satisfy the requirements of Section 84 (2). See Kubor...

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CERTIFICATE UNDER SECTION 84(4) CAN BE PRODUCED BY A NON EXPERT

Another condition for the admissibility of electronic evidence under Section 84(4) of the Act is the production of an authentication/trustworthiness certificate of the computer used in producing the documents. From case law, this subsection permits even non-experts to issue such a certificate, especially persons who, though not possessing the required professional qualifications may have acquired...

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FOUR CONDITIONS REQUIRED UNDER SECTION 84(2)

By Section 84(2) of the Evidence Act, 2011, there are four conditions which are required to be satisfied in relation to the document and computer in question – 1. That the statement sought to be tendered was produced by the computer during a period when it was in regular use; 2. That during the period...

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AN E-DOCUMENT THAT HAPPENS TO BE A PUBLIC DOCUMENT MUST BE CERTIFIED AS A TRUE COPY

Furthermore and on the document exhibit ‘D’, which is an internet print out of the Punch Newspaper, it is by nature a secondary evidence of the original by reason of the provisions of sections 85 and 87(a) of the Evidence Act 2011. The law is trite on the admissibility of such category of secondary evidence....

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