EDWIN OGBA V. THE STATE

E. O. I. AKPATA, JSC (DELIVERING THE LEADING JUDGMENT): By Section 33(6)(e) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1979 every person who is charged with a criminal offence shall be entitled to have without payment the assistance of an interpreter if he cannot understand the language used at the trial of the offence. The main question which arises in this appeal in the light of this Constitutional provision is whether it is obligatory on a trial judge to record the fact that an accused who did not understand the English language had at his trial the assistance of an interpreter if in fact he was provided with such assistance. Put in another way, is there a presumption of regularity if there is nothing on the record to show that the accused had the assistance of an interpreter?

The appellant, as an accused, was charged, tried and convicted of the offence of murder at the Umuahia High Court, and was sentenced to death by hanging. His appeal to the Court of Appeal against h…