the appellant suggested of the plea of non est factum. This plea appellant's
counsel in respect of which the appellant was either not previously or not
properly tutored............. since the submission of counsel is not evidence, I hold
that the appellant made a statement to the police and since he identified the
'Arabic alphabets' which PW3 said he had inscribed, I believe that the statement
is not other than exhibit A..." (Underlining supplied for emphasis) I cannot agree
more with the lower Court's foregoing findings on the issue. I am only to add that
even in the domain of civil litigation where the plea of non est factum appears to
hold more sway, the law remains sacrosanct that in the absence of fraud or
duress the signature of a person on a document is evidence of the fact that he is
either the author of the content of the document above his signature or that the
contents were brought to his attention before appending his signature. The
application of these principles would have left the appellant in the quandary
anyway. See Yadia Nigeria Ltd v. Great Nigeria Insurance Company Ltd (2001) 11
NWLR (pt 725) 529." Per MUHAMMAD, J.S.C. (Pp. 24-26, Paras. E-E) (...read in
context)
15. EVIDENCE - CONFESSIONAL STATEMENT: Whether a court can convict solely
on the confessional statement of an accused person
"It is a trite law that an accused person can be convicted on his Confession alone.
A voluntary Confession of guilt by an accused is sufficient to warrant conviction
without corroborative evidence if it is direct, positive, duly made and satisfactorily
proved. See Sule VS The State (2009) 4 NCC 456, Amanchukwu VS. FRN (2009) 4
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