MINA ARDO MUDU V. THE STATE

G. B. A. COKER, J.S.C (Delivering the Leading Judgment): This appeal must fail. The appellant himself told the whole story of the offence in his statement (Ex. B1) which the learned trial Judge rightly decided voluntarily made by him in Hausa language. The wife (now widow) of the deceased by name Adama Isa was the 2nd prosecution witness at the trial of the appellant. She was sleeping on the same bed with her husband, Malam Buba Hassan (now deceased) when the appellant entered the house at about midnight, and dealt a number of stab wounds on Buba Hassan, who succumbed to the injuries the following afternoon.

The evidence before the learned trial Judge clearly established the identity of the appellant, who himself did not deny being the nocturnal visitor to the house of Buba Hussan for he went more or less immediately thereafter to the Police to report his own activities of the night including the use of his knife. The learned trial Judge although he was entitled to admit the statement…