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POLICE INVESTIGATION REPORT REJECTED CANNOT BE RELIED UPON

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Dictum

The Appellant submitted that the PW.1’s extra-judicial statement contained in the PIR contradicted her testimony in open Court that she reported robbery and not mere stealing at police station. The PIR is not in evidence. The attempt to put it into the body of legal evidence before the trial Court was rejected by the trial Court. A fact that never forms part of legal evidence before the Court cannot be used nor relied upon by a Court of law to hold that it contradicts an existing legal evidence. I agree with the Respondent’s submission relying on EKPO v. KANU (2012) 12 WRN 132 at 155 that only documents tendered as exhibits are evidence before the Court, and that the Court cannot act on or utilise any document or fact that is not evidence before it in the determination of any disputed facts or matter before it. The PIR, having been rejected, is no longer any credible evidence on which the trial Court could act on. See TERAB v. LAWAL (1992) NWLR (Pt. 231) 569.

— E. Eko, JSC. Kekong v State (2017) – SC.884/2014

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A DISGRACE WHEN POLICE INTERFERE IN WHAT IS NOT ITS DUTY

Now the police had no business with the election under the Constitution or the Electoral Act. The duty of the police was to maintain law and order. According to the evidence led even by the 1st respondent himself there was no disorder in the conduct of the election yet the police, even from their headquarters at Owerri, interfered with the peaceful conduct of election, collected the returning officer to Owerri having stopped him from making the announcement of the results as required by law. By the time there had been interference in Owerri, actively supported by the police, the figures had been inflated by actual forgery of figures by 40,000. To say the least, this was a disgrace on the part of the police as it was criminal. It is unfortunate that the Federal Court of Appeal showed no interest in this aspect of the case notwithstanding that it directed itself correctly on the facts thereto. I think the stricture by the trial court of the police is justified, and to remove the disgrace, I hope the Inspector-General of Police would look into this matter, cause the conduct of the police officers concerned to be investigated and deal with the matter according to law. For this reason I direct that the Chief Registrar of this Court should forward a copy of this judgment to the Inspector-General of Police with his attention drawn to this portion of this judgment.

– ESO JSC. Torti v. Ukpabi (1984)

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