The facts of the case are that the complainant Opera Eddie, P.W.1 was on the 21st of the month of February, 1979 stopped and more or less blocked by the accused persons with their motor-cycle at Ilupeju, after the said riders have been dutifully following him for quite some time. When the complainant was forced to stop Sola Akin came to his aide and demanded the key of his vehicle which he naturally refused to give him and he forcefully entered his vehicle and when he still refused to give him his car key he brought out a knife which he brandished and threatened him with bodily harm. All this time Yakubu was on the motorcycle. Prior to that a signal had been sent to some policeman in mufti in that area that there were two people on motor-cycle who were stopping vehicles on the road with intent to rob them. One of the policemen beholding the incident taking place now ran to the scene intending to effect the arrest of the culprits whoever they were. The two culprits surrendered themselves after a while but later the 2nd Accused, Akin Shola bolted away and tried to make for safety. He was pursued and caught after he had been shot by the policeman, Muriama Alao one of the policemen in mufti and they were all taken to the Police Station. It was found that the motorcycle had no registration number. The story of the appellant and his cohort was however different. They stated that the complainant was driving rather recklessly and with that dangerous manner of driving stopped suddenly and the motorcyclist driven by one of the accused persons-Yakubu almost hit it from behind and this made him sustain an injury on the right hand. He then approached the complainant (P.W.1 in the court below) and demanded to know why he nearly killed him. At first, according to his narration the complainant used offensive language on him but later he apologized and at this time he too relented and was about continuing with his journey when two plain clothed men arrived and asked yakubu to surrender to them the key of his motor-cycle. He denied that his co-accused was his friend. Ishola Akin added that when he was stopped by one of the policemen and he asked him (as he was in mufti) whether he was a policeman that he shot him on the leg at a point blank range and he emphatically denied running away when he saw the policeman. After the trial, the accused persons i.e. the appellant and Ishola Akin (deceased) were found guilty, convicted and sentenced to 25 years terms of imprisonment.

Appellant, dissatisfied, went to the Appeal court.