What Exactly Is Plea Of No Case Submission? By Isiaka Azeez Ayinde

In a criminal litigation, the prosecution is required by law to
not only prove the commission of the crime but also to prove the
essential ingredients and to link the accused person to the said
offence.

By the provision of S.135 of the Evidence Act, the burden is
always on the prosecution to prove the ingredients beyond
reasonable doubt. As this was espoused in the case of IBERI
V. A.G FEDERATION(2014) 5NWLR (PT1401) where it was held
that:

“It is not for the accused person to prove his innocence. The
burden is on the prosecution to establish the case against the
accused beyond reasonable doubt. By proof beyond reasonable doubt
it is intended that a prima facie case must be made out by the
prosecution against the accused”.

The Court went further by explaining what a prima facie case
means, when it held thus:
“A prima facie case connotes the existence of evidence which is
sufficient enough to support the allegation made and would be
regarded as having been made in the absence of further evidence in
rebuttal of same.”

Therefore, failure on the part of the prosecution to establish
the said ingredients will be fatal to its case by which the accused
may raise a no case submission.

The basic authority where a plea of No case submission is
premised are section 286 of the Criminal Procedure Act (CPA);
section 191(3) and (5) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC), and
section 243 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law
(ACJL).

Section 286 of the CPA provides thus –
“If at the close of the evidence in support of the charge it
appears to the court that a case is not made out against the
defendant sufficiently to require him to make a defence, the court
shall, as to the particular charge, discharge him”.

It is instructive to refer to the case of ODIDO V.
STATE(1995) 1 NWLR (PT. 369) 88 where the court observed
that the mere use of the words –“if it appears” in section 286 of
the Criminal.

Procedure Act does not entitle a judge to say that it does not
appear to him where the prosecution has not made out a case against
the accused to answer. The case so made must also be “sufficient”
to require the accused to make a defence. It is therefore, not
sufficient that there has been a casual reference to the accused.
The case of the prosecution must be cogent to require the accused
to further deny the accusation.

It is only after the foregoing requirement has been met that the
court would hold that a case has been made out for the accused to
answer and call upon him to make his defence.
In the same vein, Section 191(3) of the Criminal Procedure Code
provides thus;

“Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (2), the court may
after hearing the evidence for the prosecution if it considers that
the evidence against the accused or any of several accused is not
sufficient to justify the continuation of the trial, record a
finding of not guilty in respect of such accused without calling
upon him or them to enter upon the defence and such accused shall
thereupon be discharged and the court shall then call upon the
remaining accused, if any, to enter upon the defence”.
In AJULUCHUKWU v. STATE (2014) 13 (PT1425), it was
held by the supreme court that:

“A submission of no-case to answer by an accused person means
that even if the court believes the evidence adduced so far by the
prosecution, there is no sufficient material on which the court can
convict_.” This goes to show that although the prosecution has
adduced evidence in discharging the burden placed on it, the
evidence adduced are not sufficient to convict the accused before
any reasonable judge or tribunal.

WHEN A NO CASE SUBMISSION CAN BE
RAISED/MADE
The court in AJULUCHUKWU V. STATE (Supra) and DEBOH V STATE (1977)
5SC197 unambiguously stated that a plea of no case submission can
be raised where there has been, throughout the trial, no legally
admissible evidence at all against the accused person on behalf of
whom the submission has been made to link him in any way with the
commission of the offence with which he has been charged which
would necessitate his being called upon for his defense or that
whatever evidence there was, which might have linked the accused
person with the alleged offence has been so discredited,
particularly under cross examination of the prosecution witness,
that no reasonable court would can be called upon to act on such
evidence as establishing criminal guilt in the accused person.

Basically, therefore, a plea of no case submission can only be
successfully raised where the prosecution has failed to prove the
essential elements of the offence the accused is charged with. In
the alternative, it could be raised where although the prosecution
has called witnesses to prove the offence, the testimonies of the
witnesses have been so discredited by the defence under cross
examination and rendered unreliable to such an extent that no
reasonable tribunal could safely convict on it. See the cases of
UBANATU V C.O.P (2000) 1 SCNJ 50; EMEDO V STATE (2002) 15NWLR(PT.
789) 196

THE EFFECT OF A NO CASE SUBMISSION
If after the argument of the defence, it is the conclusion of the
Judge that the Plea of No case submission succeeds, an order of
discharge is to be made by the court. This order, however, will be
equivalent to an acquittal as enshrined under the provisions of
S.301(1) Criminal Procedure Code S.191(5) Criminal Procedure Code
and the cases of NWALI v. IGP (1956) 1 E.N.R. NLR 1, IGP V.
MARK(1957) 2 F.S.C 5 among others, Therefore when a no case
submission is successfully raised the court is bound to discharge
and acquit the accused person from the offence charged with. The
only option open to the prosecution, therefore, would be to go on
an appeal to a superior court.

In conclusion, it is important to point out that prosecution
counsels should always endeavor to do their homework very well
before instituting a criminal case in court because of the
propensity of raising a no case submission and succeeding. It is
also important to note that should a no case submission fail, the
next step is for the defense to open their case.
Eqaully, a submission of “no -case to answer” in a criminal trial
is a submission on point of law, pure and simple. Nothing more and
nothing less.

It is a legal submission. It is analogous to a demurer in a
civil court or trial. All the accused is saying at the stage of
trial is to the effect : Accept all that the Prosecution as said
through it witnesses yet it (Prosecution)cannot secure a conviction
either of the offence charged or of any other alternative offence
of which may possibly be convicted upon the evidence. Undoubtedly,
thiswas the position of the court in the case of Ajisogun V. The
State (1988)13 NWLR (Pt 581) page 236 particularly at page 262.

With this, we come to the end of this edition of Legal Tidbits.
We hope you have learnt something, join us next week for more. Till
then, Goodbye!

Written by ISIAKA, AZEEZ AYINDE, Director of
Litigation II, Legal Aid Clinic, Faculty of Law, University of
Ilorin. And equally a Penultimate Student of Law in University of
IlMADE

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