2023 Election Petitions: Court of Appeal President orders transfer of pending cases to Abuja, Lagos

All pending cases from the 36 states of the federation regarding the results of the 2023 elections are to be transferred to the Lagos and Abuja divisions of the appellate court, the President of the Court of Apeal, Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem, has ordered.

Persecondnews reports that with the directive which affects gubernatorial, national and state assemblies’ elections, all pending cases would now be heard and decided by judges in Lagos and Abuja divisions only.

The plethora of petitions and protests from political parties and their candidates, who claimed that the judges of the tribunals were heavily compromised by the governors during the trial stage in their respective states, is said to have informed Dongban-Mensem’s directive for only two of the 20 divisions of the court to decide all appellate cases arising from tribunal disputes.

The Court of Appeal President was reported to have carried out discreet investigations into the allegations against the governors and the judges of the trial tribunal, and established the existence of some ‘unholy alliances’ which might have led to a miscarriage of justice at the tribunals.

Some judges of the tribunals were reportedly indicted and might face trial by the National Judicial Council (NJC).

Speaking on the development, a member of the House of Representatives representing Warri Federal Constituency, Thomas Ereyitomi, welcomed the decision as long as it would guarantee fair and impartial judgements.