It is an elementary principle, very elementary, that counsel, who wants the court to make use of the authorities cited in court must provide the name of parties, the year the case was decided, and where the case is reported, name of the law report, the year, volume and page must be cited. But if the said case is unreported, counsel must provide the court with a certified true copy of the judgment sought to be relied upon – see Chidoka & Anor v. First City Finance Corp. Ltd. (2013) 5 NWLR (Pt. 1346) 144 and Ugo-Ngadi v. F.R.N. (2018) LPELR-43903(SC); (2018) 8 NWLR (Pt. 1620) 29 at p. 53 paras. E-F wherein Galinje, JSC, stated –
“Where a counsel cites a case that has not been reported, he owes the court a duty to produce a copy of the judgment if he wants the court to rely on such authority. Where copies of the judgment are not produced, the court will have nothing to rely upon.”
MAJOR GENERAL KAYODE ONI (Rtd.) & 3Ors v GOVERNOR OF EKITI STATE & 1 Or – SC. 622/2015 decided on 18th January 2019