The President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, has commended her colleagues for their efforts in doing justice to 805 election petitions received on the general elections.
Justice Bulkachuwa gave the commendation at the 2019 Annual Justices Conference in Abuja tagged “Professionalizing the Administration of Justice.”
She said many of the Justices did not enjoy their annual vacation due to the general elections which culminated in the various elections petitions tribunals and the appeals.
She attributed the volume of the petitions received to the confidence which the citizens have in the judiciary as the hope for the common man.
“No doubt this electioneering year was a hectic one, because after the annual sittings, 805 appeals were filed across the 16 divisions and the court was up to the task”
“I say well done for our collective efforts in making Nigerian democracy stronger in spite of all odds,” she said.
She said while the election petition tribunals were sitting, the Justices were on the move on different panels with a view of bringing down the volume of cases in different divisions.
Justice Bulkachuwa revealed that the court has disposed of 4,007 judgments and 7,911 motions in this year.
Noting that the effort has helped in de-congesting the court backlogs of appeals.
She also revealed that the Ilorin and Yola divisions of the Court of Appeal would be inaugurated while renovation work is ongoing at the Benin and Kaduna divisions of the court.
“We intend to create four new divisions of the court with a view to reducing the workload on the justices and also bring justice closer to the people,”
Mrs Bulkachuwa said the court established a Social Media Centre before the commencement of the tribunals sittings.
She said the social media hub was an interactive platform meant to give on the spot report of the happenings in the various tribunals.
She said the mainstream media supported the Appeal Court especially during the formal inauguration of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal.
In his remarks, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Tanko Mohammed, said for judges to work as a panel, there must be peace, cooperation and intelligence.
He said the justices were carefully drawn and there should not be a show of egotism but understanding among them.
Mr Mohammed said all should strive to achieve the purpose of their being there.
