Court To Rule On Admissibility Of Judgment On School Fees

Federal High Court in Abuja has fixed May 8, 2025, for ruling on the admissibility of a judgment of the Federal Capital Territory High Court in suit number FCT/HC/CV/2574/2023 between Mr Ali Bello and Incorporated Trustees of American International School.

The defendant’s counsel, Joseph Daudu (SAN), had before proceeding on cross-examination of the EFCC’s third witness, Nicholas Ohehomon from AISA, sought to tender the document which had decided on the issue of payment of fees or refund in the ongoing case instituted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission against a former governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello.

The defence counsel had also sought to tender the receipts of the recertification of the said documents. But Pinherio, SAN, who had earlier examined the witness, objected, said the prosecution had not yet closed its case.

He argued that the defendant could not tender documents at a time the prosecution was still proving its case, citing Section 232 of the Evidence Act.

Reacting, Daudu said, “My lord, the admissibility of documents in criminal or civil cases is governed strictly and exclusively by the principles of relevance to the proceedings at hand.

“Once it is adjudged, we submit that the document is relevant, it becomes automatically admissible. That is what is contained in Sections 4, 5 and 6 of the Evidence Act, 2011.

“The question for your lordship is, is this document relevant and admissible in line with Section  4? The answer has been provided by my learned brother silk for the prosecution.”

He referred to the content of the judgment and read out a portion which says that a particular relief was refused and that the fee agreement was upheld in the same judgment.

He said the public documents they sought to tender had AISA as a party and that, as far as the defendant was concerned, the witness was the sole witness of AISA in the matter.

The defence counsel added that the objection of the prosecution was speculative.