GODWIN OBIDAH V. THE STATE

TSAMMANI, J.S.C. (Delivering the Leading Judgment): This appeal is against the judgment of the Court of Appeal, Yola Division, delivered on the 6th day of December, 2021, in Appeal No. CA/YL/44C/2021.

The appellant, who was the 1st accused at the trial court, was, along with two others, tried and convicted for conspiracy to commit culpable homicide punishable with death and culpable homicide punishable with death contrary to sections 97(1) and 221 of the Penal Code Law of Adamawa State. They were said to have beaten one Pastor Hammajulde Dadon to death with sticks while one Dahiru Mohammed, who was at large at the time of the trial, struck the deceased on the head with a cutlass (machete).

At the trial, the prosecution called six witnesses and tendered the extrajudicial statements of the appellant and his co-accused persons in evidence. The said extrajudicial statements, which were deemed confessional in nature, were admitted in evidence without objection. The statement of the appellant…