In a bid to curtail political interference in the dispensation of justice, the president of the Court of Appeal, Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem, has transferred all election petition cases pending before the court in the 36 states to Abuja and Lagos divisions of the appellate court.
Consequently, LEADERSHIP was told that all appellate cases arising from the judgement of the various election petition tribunals in the 36 states of the country would be heard and determined in Abuja and Lagos divisions of the Appeal Court.
Already, all political parties and their candidates, having pending appeal cases have been directed to comply with the order by moving to either Lagos or Abuja as the case may be to prosecute their cases. This newspaper was told by one of our reliable sources that the appellants in the various cases expressed apprehension that the same fate might befall them if their cases are allowed to be determined by the other 18 divisions of the Court of Appeal domiciled in various states under the watch of the governors of the states.
Some judges of the tribunals were reportedly indicted and might face trial by the National Judicial Council . In arriving at the decision, one of our sources told our correspondent that Dongban-Mensem was bothered that the image of the judiciary could be rubbished by unsavoury activities of corrupt judges in alliance with the political class.
But LEADERSHIP could not verify from official sources how the two divisions could effectively handle and cope with the volume of cases expected from the 36 states of the country.
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