Judgment
PETER OYINKENIMIEMI AFFEN, J.C.A. (Delivering the Leading Judgment): Introduction The Appellant [Francis Momoh] was arraigned on 8/11/2018 before the Lagos Division of the Federal High Court (“the lower Court”) alongside three co-defendants on a 45-count charge of conspiracy and money laundering in Charge No. FHC/L/238/2018: Federal Republic of Nigeria v Engr. Tuoyo Omatsuli & 3 Ors, to which they all pleaded ‘not guilty’.
The charge was subsequently amended once and again in the course of trial: the extant one being the 2nd Amended 52-count charge (copied at pp. 1381-1406 in Volume II of the records); and the Appellant and his co-defendants, again, indicated a ‘not guilty’ plea on 7/7/2020. In a frantic bid to discharge the non-shifting burden of establishing guilt on the criminal threshold of proof beyond reasonable doubt, the Respondent (qua prosecution) fielded 16 of the 19 witnesses listed in the proof of evidence, and tendered Exhibits ETO1–ETO34.
At the close of the Respondent’s case, the Appellant and two of his co-defendants (i.e. Don Parker Properties Ltd and Building Associates Limited) jointly made a submission of no-case-to-answer. Engr. Tuoyo Omatsuli [1st Defendant] did likewise. In a ruling delivered on 11/11/2020 (which lies at pp. 1752–1755 in Vol. III of the records), his Lordship, Saliu Saidu, J. upheld the 1st Defendant’s no-case submission and discharged him, but dismissed the joint no-case submission presented by the Appellant and other defendants and ordered them to enter upon their defence.
This present appeal, commenced by a Notice of Appeal dated and filed on 2/11/21 but deemed properly filed on 9/11/21, is an expression of the Appellant’s discontent with the part of the ruling overruling their joint no-case submission. As enjoined by the Rules of this Court, the parties filed and exchanged briefs of arguments. The Appellant’s Brief was deemed properly filed on 9/11/21, whilst the Respondent’s Amended Brief and the Appellant’s Reply Brief were deemed properly filed on 20/1/22. This appeal was heard on 20/1/22.
Issues for determination Whereas a lone issue for determination is distilled in the Respondent’s Brief, namely: “Whether from the evidence adduced by the 1st Respondent (sic) at the lower Court, the learned trial Judge was not right in holding that the Appellant had a case to answer and thereby ordered it to open its defence”, the three issues identified in the Appellant’s Brief as follows: (a) Whether the lower Court was right, from the state of evidence before the Court, to have held that with regards to the Appellant, a prima facie case has been established against it that will require it to enter its defence? (b) Whether the evidence led against the Appellant and the 4th Respondent (sic) cannot be severed for being inextricably interwoven such that a discharge of one must as a matter of law affect the others? (c) Whether the lower Court’s insistence that the Appellant enter its defence despite the paucity of evidence adduced by the 1st Respondent (sic) does not amount to asking the Appellant to establish his innocence contrary to the adversarial system of administration of justice as enshrined in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended)?
