Criminal Litigation

Prior to the introduction of Section 84 of the Evidence Act, 2011, there was a lot of confusion on the admissibility or otherwise of computer generated evidence in Nigeria. The confusion was borne out of the distrust by our justice system for computer generated documents which were mostly prone to unnoticeable manipulation and alteration unlike traditional paper evidence. Section 84 of the Evidence Act, 2011 was therefore the new dimension towards solving this legal problem by regulating the authentication and admissibility of electronic evidence. This article examines some notable criminal appeals post-2011 and the judicial attitude of Nigerian Courts in criminal litigation to Section 84 of the Evidence Act, 2011. The article finds that notwithstanding the innovation that the said Section 84 brings to solving this legal problem, there has been a great level of inconsistency and disharmony in its application. The article suggests that unless urgent steps are taken to stem the tide of inconsistent decisions through the introduction of supplementary guidelines on admissibility and authentication of electronic evidence, the inconsistency will persist.