Theme: From Phone to Evidence.
Goal: To stop women from losing cases because their digital evidence was thrown out on technicalities.
“I have the messages! He admitted it on WhatsApp!”
“I have the messages! He admitted it on WhatsApp! We have him!”
I hear this every week. A woman walks into my consultation room, phone in hand, full of abuse, confessions, and threats. She feels safe because she has “receipts.” She is ready to march into court.
I have to be the one to burst her bubble—so the judge doesn’t do it later.
I tell her what I am telling you now: “My dear, in the eyes of the law, those aren’t receipts. That is just a picture.”
I have sat in courtrooms and watched women who didn’t have proper counsel get destroyed. I’ve seen them stand up confidently with their printouts, only for the opposing lawyer to smirk and say: “Objection, My Lord. This evidence fails to comply with Section 84 of the Evidence Act.”
The judge agrees. The screenshots are rejected. The evidence vanishes. The case is lost.
Don’t let that happen on your watch.
Today, on Day 14 of #16Days, we are fixing this. In the age of Digital Violence, your phone is your biggest weapon—but only if you know how to unlock its legal power.
The “Screenshot Trap”
In the eyes of the Nigerian law, a screenshot is just a picture. It doesn’t show the metadata (the date, time, and device data hidden inside the file). It can be cropped, edited, or deep-faked.
If you just print a screenshot and staple it to your petition, you are walking into a trap.
The Law: Section 84 & The Supreme Court
In Nigeria, digital evidence is governed by Section 84 of the Evidence Act 2011. This law treats computer-generated evidence as “secondary evidence,” meaning its admissibility is not automatic.
The Supreme Court, in the landmark case of Dr. Imoro Kubor v. Hon. Seriake Henry Dickson (2013), made it clear: Evidence tendered without satisfying the conditions of Section 84 is inadmissible. It doesn’t matter how damning the text message is; if you don’t follow the procedure, the court closes its eyes to it.
The Solution: The Certificate of Compliance
To make your “receipts” stick, you need a Certificate of Compliance (pursuant to Section 84(4)).
This is a signed legal document (usually an affidavit) that accompanies your printouts. It certifies three things:
- The Device: “I printed these documents from my Samsung S22.”
- Functionality: “The phone was working properly at the time.”
- Integrity: “I am the person who manages this device.”
Without this certificate, your evidence is legally “hearsay” to a computer and will be thrown out.
Exit Feminism: The Digital Protocol
If you are preparing for an exit and gathering evidence, stop relying on “Vibes and Screenshots.” Follow this protocol:
- Don’t Just Screenshot: Use the “Export Chat” feature on WhatsApp to email the full conversation to your lawyer. This preserves the time stamps and sender data.
- Don’t Delete the Original: Keep the phone. As seen in Dickson v. Sylva, the device itself may sometimes be relevant.
- Context Matters: Don’t crop out your own replies to make yourself look better. Judges look for the flow of conversation. Edited evidence destroys credibility.
- Back It Up: Cloud storage is your friend. If he breaks your phone, your evidence should already be in Google Drive or iCloud.
👩🏾⚖️ Lawyer Tip: Laying the Foundation
When you are in the witness box, do not simply say, “Here is the text.” You must lay the proper foundation as required by law. Your lawyer should ask:
- “What device do you use?”
- “Was it functioning properly when this message was received?”
- “How was this printout generated?”
Answer clearly. If you say, “My phone was broken that week,” you might have just killed your own evidence.
📊 CTA 1: ANONYMOUS SURVEY
Have you ever had evidence (texts/emails) rejected in a legal dispute? Or did you lose the evidence because a phone was lost or destroyed? 👉 Take the 2-minute anonymous survey: Nigerian Women’s Legal & Marital Challenges
🎓 CTA 2: WAITLIST
Do you want a template for a Section 84 Certificate of Compliance that you can use for your own digital evidence? 👉 Join the waitlist for “Family Law in Nigeria: What Every Woman & Lawyer Must Know”: Family Law in Nigeria Course
Hashtags: #DigitalEvidence #Section84 #EvidenceAct #LegalLiteracy #TechAndLaw #ExitFeminismNG #16DaysOfActivism
#16DaysOfActivism #16Days #UNiTE2025 #EndGBV #NoExcuse #EXITfeminism2025 #EXITfeminism #Afrifem #UnbindYourExit #MzAgams
MzAgams 
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