2007: 300 Election Petitions Pending At Appeal Court

The International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law says more than 300 election petitions arising from the 2007 general elections are still pending at Court of Appeal nationwide.

This was contained in a statement issued by the civil society group and made available to newsmen yesterday in Onitsha, Anambra.

The statement was signed by the group’s Chairman of Board of Trustees, Mr Emeka Umeagbalasi and Mr Justus Ijeoma, Head, Publicity Desk, respectively.

The statement, which was also forwarded to Justice Ayo Salami, President of the Court of Appeal, was entitled: “Lingering Cases Arising From the 2007 Elections’ Disputes Are Undermining the Competence of Your Lordship and the Reputation of the Nigerian Judiciary”.

It noted that the pending cases might not get their legal merit since the judges handling them would be constrained by time limitation.

It said: “We had drawn the attention of Your Lordship, Justice Ayo Salami, to the continued pending of more than 40 cases arising from the 2007 general elections, especially the legislative polls’ disputes, lying before the Enugu Division of the Court of Appeal.

“Since then, credible sources have hinted that there might be about 300 similar electoral court cases pending before various Divisions of the Hallowed Court of Appeal in Nigeria, which arose from the 2007 polls.

“Going by the amendments to the Constitution of Nigeria 1999, the INEC Establishment Act of 2004 and the Electoral Act of 2006, which we understand, are at their final stages of passage into law, litigants may not enjoy the fruits of their petitions.

“It is now less than five months before next general elections, believed to have been scheduled to hold in January 2011 and less than 10 months to the end of the present dispensation, yet many of the matters are still pending,” it said.

The statement also noted that situations whereby the judiciary would be battling with old electoral legal order in the presence of new electoral legal order does not speak good of our judicial system.

It said: “If the said amendments are perfectly effected, say in couple of weeks, the Nigerian Judiciary will be the first organ of government to defile and possibly mess up the new order by dishing out judgments or verdicts based on anachronistic judicial precedents.

“It is too elementary to inform Your Lordship that judicial precedents can be outlawed by new legislative enactments.

“Also, existing legislative enactments can be altered by new legislative enactments considered suitable to changing socio-political situations.

“This will seriously affect the parties in the said matters, especially the non-incumbents, who ordinarily would have won their cases in courts.

“In other words, it has got to a point where technical verdicts will be the order of the day going by the disturbing present circumstances, unless something urgent and credible is done by Your Lordship,” the statement added.

It appealed to President of the Court of Appeal to prevail on judges handling the petitions to ensure that all matters were considered on their own merits.

It also appealed to judges to stop flimsy adjournments and the president should establish more panels to dispense with all 2007 petitions before the last quarter of 2010.