Prima Facie

Section 303 (3) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act provides for what a Court has to take into consideration in exercising discretion on a no case submission. See KALU vs. IGP (2017) LPELR (42857) 1 at 40 and FRN vs. SARAKI (2017) LPELR (43392) 1 at 40. The said Section 303 (3) provides as follows:
(3) In considering the application of the defendant under Section 303, the Court shall, in exercise of its discretion, have regard to whether:
(a) an essential element of the offence has been proved;
(b) there is evidence linking the defendant with the commission of the offence with which he is charged;
(c) the evidence so far led is such that no reasonable Court or tribunal would convict on it; and
(d) any other ground on which the Court may find that a prima facie case has not been made out against the defendant for him to be called upon to answer."

By the provisions of Sections 302 and 357 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act a no case submission can be made and upheld where at the close of the case for the Prosecution it appears that a case has not been made out against the defendant sufficiently to require him to enter a defence to the charge. In other words, that the evidence adduced by the Prosecution did not disclose a prima facie case against the defendant. The rationale behind this is that the Prosecution having failed to make out a prima facie case against the defendant; asking the defendant to enter upon his defence would be requiring him to prove his innocence, which will be contrary to the presumption of innocence guaranteed in Section 36 (5) of the 1999 Constitution.The expression prima facie case has been defined as meaning that there is a ground for proceeding. Put differently, that something has been produced which makes it worthwhile to continue with the proceeding. On the face of it, it suggests that the evidence produced so far indicates that there is something worth looking at. See DURU vs. NWOSU (1989)1 NWLR (PT 113) 24 at 43 and UBANATU vs. COP (2000)1 SC 31 at 36-37.
Simply put, a Court can uphold a no case submission and discharge a defendant without requiring him to enter upon his defence where the evidence adduced by the Prosecution is not sufficient to justify the continuation of the trial and or that a case is not made out against the defendant sufficiently to require him to make a defence.