On the 11th day of February, 1976, at the close of the business of the day at the Sub-Treasury at Etinan in Cross River State the Treasury Cashier, Kenneth Aniebok (P.W. (2) handed over to Okon Etukudo (P.W. (1)], for final check both the cash book and the amount of money collected earlier that day, by way of revenue from members of the public, by the appellant - a Revenue Clerk in the Sub-treasury at Etinan. The money had earlier been handed over to the cashier (P.W. (2)) by the appellant to whom the duty of revenue collection for the day had been assigned. In the course of the final check, which was carried out by P.W.(1) in the presence of P.W. (2), two counterfeit currency notes, each of ten-Naira denomination,. {Exhibits A and A(1)] were discovered. When the attention of the appellant was drawn to this discovery, he not only confirmed that the notes were counterfeit but also admitted that he received them, among other currency notes, from a man who came from Ubiom in Cross River State to pay his revenue dues. He further requested that P.W. (2) should go with him to Ubiom in search of this man; his request, however, was not granted and on the insistence of P.W. (1) he replaced Exhibits A and A(1) with two genuine currency notes each of ten-Naira denomination. Thereafter, the matter was reported by P.W. (1) to the police authorities.

When arrested, by the police, the single-room accommodation of the appellant was searched and in an envelope placed underneath a pile of newspapers located at the lower platform of a "centre table" in the room, the police in the presence of the appellant discovered another eighteen counterfeit currency notes each of ten-Naira denomination and bearing the same serial number - DA/70/617431 - as Exhibits A and Al. The above facts represent the non-controversial evidence.

The accused was tried and convicted of the offences of uttering and being in possession of counterfeit notes. However during the trial, a confessional statement was wrongly admitted by the trial Judge.

There was no appeal against the sentence in the Court of Appeal, but the issue was raised for the first time in the Supreme Court.