MUHAMMAD ALI v. KANO STATE
(2018) LPELR-44201(CA)
In The Court of Appeal of Nigeria
On Wednesday, the 28th day of February, 2018
CA/K/26c/2011
Before Their Lordships
IBRAHIM SHATA BDLIYA Justice of The Court of Appeal of Nigeria
OBIETONBARA O. DANIEL-KALIO Justice of The Court of Appeal of Nigeria
AMINA AUDI WAMBAI Justice of The Court of Appeal of Nigeria
Between
MUHAMMAD ALI Appellant(s)
AND
KANO STATE Respondent(s)
Other Citations
RATIO DECIDENDI
1. WORDS AND PHRASES - "SPECULATION" "INFERENCE": Meaning of "speculation" and "inference"
"A finding is said to be speculative when it is not based on facts or knowledge of its details but on
guesses or conjectures but not when as in the case at hand, it is based on or derivable from the evidence
on record. Whereas speculation is a mere variant of imaginative guess which, even when it appears
plausible should never be allowed by a Court of law to fill any hiatus in the evidence before it, an
inference is a reasonable deduction from facts available before the Court. See IVIENAGBOR VS OSATO
BAZUAYE & ANOR (1999) 6 SC (PT. 1) 149 per Uwaifo JSC. Thus, the said finding by the learned trial