Abstract
Confession is one means of establishing the guilt of the accused person in the absence of direct
evidence or cogent circumstantial evidence. Confession has been enhanced, developed and
perfected by the Nigeria police/ prosecution, relegating the other techniques used in
investigation and solving of crimes. Criminal cases presented by the police/ prosecution at trial
are most time built around a confession and so the case is defeated once the confession fails to
pass the test for admissibility. Voluntariness of a confession is one major huddle to cross for it
to be admissible against an accused person. Reliability of a confession has replaced the
voluntariness of a confession in the Nigeria Evidence Act. Cases reveal that coarse and false
confessions are cleverly made admissible at trial courts only to be upturned at the appeal.
Coarse and false confessions are extracted and obtained by torture. This article expounds that
persons whose confessions are obtained by torture are likely to be incarcerated for a crime
they know nothing about. This is one danger of relying on confessions as it enhances the
continued use of torture. It is showcased that a significant number of exonerated prisoners in
the USA were convicted as a result of coarse and false confessions. This article briefly
examines other investigative techniques, calls for their adoption in the Nigerian criminal
justice system and advocates for the abolition of confessions in criminal trials.