Federal High Court declares election break for judges

The Federal High Court has declared a short break to enable its judges to vote in Saturday’s presidential and National Assembly elections.

The break, according to a circular signed by the Chief Judge of the court, John Tsoho, would begin on Wednesday (22 February ) and end on 28 February.

The circular dated 20 February said there would be judges designated to hear urgent cases from different parts of the country.

Under the arrangement, a judge will be designated to hear urgent cases from the North, South-west, and South-south/South-east regions in the country.

“The Administrative Judges in the Abuja, Lagos and Port Harcourt Judicial Divisions, shall ensure that a Judge is designated to cater for the North, South-West, SouthSouth/South-East Geo-political Areas, respectively, regarding urgent matters during the period,” the circular read in part.

Nigeria holds its presidential and National Assembly elections this Saturday.

18 presidential candidates are jostling to take over from the outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari, who would complete his second term in office on 29 May.

On 11 March, two weeks after the presidential election, governorship elections will hold in 28 states. But the state House of Assembly elections will hold across the 36 states of the federation.

The Federal High Court hears most of the pre-election cases that emanated from last year’s primary elections conducted by various political parties.

Due to the large volume of pre-election cases filed by aggrieved politicians, the Chief Judge, in November, constituted a special task force of judges to ensure their quick disposal.

A circular issued by the Chief Judge to that effect said judges who were members of the task force would suspend all regular cases in their respective courts, due to the urgency of the time-bound electoral cases.

“In view of the large volume of Pre-Election cases filed so far; with the imminent attendant risk of lapsing, it has become necessary to constitute a Task Force to speedily dispose of the matters, particularly in those Judicial Divisions with a glut of them,” Mr Tsoho was quoted in a statement by the court’s Assistant Director of Information, Catherine Christopher, Wednesday.

He said members of the task force “will have four weeks within which to dispose of the pre-election cases.”

Mr Tsoho had in July 2022 issued a practice direction on pre-election cases, which he said would “provide for a fair, impartial and expeditious determination of pre-election cases,” among others.