Record of Appeal

As the Appellant rightly submitted, an appellate Court is bound by the Record of Appeal, which means that this Court is not allowed to venture outside the perimeter of its contents – see Orugbo V. Una (2002) 16 NWLR (Pt. 792) 175 at 206-207, where Tobi, JSC, observed
"An appellate Court has no jurisdiction to read into the Record what is not there and it equally has no jurisdiction to read out of the Record what is there. Both are forbidden areas of an appellate Court – – – An appellate Court must read the Record in its exact content and interpret it. Of course, it has the jurisdiction to decide whether on the face of the Record and on the cold facts the decision was proper or not."

PML (NIGERIA)

The Courts have consistency held that the record of proceedings in a criminal trial is not admissible in civil matters. In Abubakar v. Joseph (2008) 13 NWLR (Pt. 1104) 307 at 353-354 the Apex Court held that:
Record of proceedings in a criminal proceeding is inadmissible as evidence in a civil proceeding. In the instant case, the admission of the record of criminal case in which the 1st respondent was convicted was wrong notwithstanding that there was no objection to is admission in evidence.
Also, in the case of ALI V. UGWU (2012) ALL FWLR (Pt 619) 1078 @ 1111, the Court held that:
Record of proceedings in a criminal proceeding is inadmissible as evidence in a civil proceeding."

It is an elementary principle that the Court, the Parties and Counsel are bound by contents of the record of appeal, which is presumed correct until the contrary is proved; no Court has jurisdiction to go outside the record to draw conclusions that are not supported by it –Texaco Panama Inc. v. S.P.D.C. Ltd. (2002) 5 NWLR (Pt.749) 209 SC; Garuba v. Omokhodion (2011) 15 NWLR (Pt.1269) 145. In other words, no arguments/submissions in a Partys brief, howsoever ingenious, can make an iota of difference to the contents of a record of appeal.