An accident is defined by this Court as the Result of an unwilled act, and means an even without the fault of the person alleged to have caused it. Per Karibi-Whyte, JSC (as he then was) in ALIU BELLO & ORS VS ATTORNEY-GENERAL OF OYO STATE (1986) 12 S.C. 1 at 73. Another very respected jurist of this Court, Oputa JSC, (as he then was and of a blessed memory) took it further, by considering the phrase an event which occurs by accident. He stated as follows:-
"It seems to me that the expression an event which occurs by accident used in Section 24 of Cap.42 of 1958 describes an event totally unexpected by the doer of the act and also not reasonably to be expected by my ordinary person, the reasonable man of the law. In other words, the test is both subjective from the stand point of the doer of the act, as well as objective from the stand point of the ordinary man of common prudence. The event should, to qualify as accidental, be a surprise both to the doer of the act that caused it, and a surprising thing to all and sundry. An event is thus accidental. It is neither subjectively intended nor objectively foreseeable by the ordinary man of reasonable prudence." Per Oputa JSC, in BAYO ADELUMOLA VS THE STATE (1988) 1 NWLR (Pt.73) at Pages 639-693.
An accident is the result of an unwilled act and means an event without the fault of the person alleged to have caused it. It is something unforeseen, a happens chance, completely outside the ordinary course of events.
Now, my understanding of the extant jurisprudence on the defence of accident, in particular, is this – for an event to qualify as an accident, it must be the result of an unwilled act: an event which occurs without the fault of the person alleged to have caused it or an event, totally, unexpected in the ordinary course of events, Adelumola v. The State [1988] 1 NWLR (pt. 73) 683, 692; Oghor v. State [1990] 3 NWLR (pt. 139) 484; Thomas v. State [1994] 4 NWLR (pt. 337) 129; Adekunle v. State (2006) LPELR-107 (SC) 11, E-F.
Thus, where an event eventuates from an act or omission independent of the exercise of the will of a person, or where such event is the result of an accident, our Criminal Law does not hold the actor criminally responsible. In a word, an event which is neither intended nor foreseen by the actor is said to be an accident, Oladipupo v. State(1993) LPELR – 2549 (SC) 19, E-F.
This defence, which is codified in Section 24 of the Criminal Code, is exculpatory. In effect, when it avails the accused person, it exonerates him, C. O. Okonkwo, Okonkwo and Naish: Criminal Law in Nigeria (Second Edition) (Ibadan: Spectrum Books Ltd, 2009); A.G. Karibi-Whyte, History and Sources of Nigerian Criminal Law (Ibadan; Spectrum Books Ltd, 1988); K. S. Chukkol, The Law of Crimes in Nigeria (Zaria: Ahmadu Bello University Press Ltd, 1988); NIALS' Laws of Nigeria (Annotated) Criminal Justice Administration Vol One (Lagos: NIALS, 2008); M. A. Owoade, Law of Homicide in Nigeria (Ife: Obafemi Awolowo University Press, 1990) 16 et seq;P. Ocheme, The Nigerian Criminal Law (Kaduna: Liberty Publications Ltd, 2006) etc; Uwaekweghinya v. The State [2005] 9 NWLR (pt. 930) 227; Oladipupo v. State (supra); Ibeh v. State (1997) 1 NWLR (Pt. 484) 632; Akinbisade v. State [2006] 14 NWLR (pt. 1000) 717.
It is settled beyond equivocation that the defence of accident will not admit a deliberate action, even if the accused person did not intend the result of his action. See the cases of ADEGBOYE V. STATE (2017) LPELR – 42099 (SC); ADEKUNLE V. STATE (2006) LPELR – 107 (SC); THOMAS V. STATE (1994) LPELR – 3239 (SC). PER ADAMU JAURO, J.S.C