MUSA DATTIJO MUHAMMAD J.S.C (Delivering the Leading Judgment): This is an appeal against the judgment of the Calabar Division of the Court of Appeal, hereinafter referred to as the court below, affirming the conviction and sentence of the appellant by the Akwa-Ibom State High Court of Justice,
I hereinafter referred to as the trial court. The trial court's judgment was delivered on the 30th day of March, 2006 while the lower court's affirmation of the said judgment is dated 27th May, 2009. The appellant was tried and convicted for the offence of murder contrary to Section 319 (1) of the Criminal
Code Cap 31 Vol. 2 Laws of the Cross River State as applicable to the Akwa-Ibom State. Let me supply, very briefly, the facts of the case that brought about the appeal.
In the late 1990's, the military which, before then, had ruled the country for almost a quarter of a century out of its thirty two years post-independence existence, decided to return the country to democratic rule. The instant…