Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Jega to CJN: Call judges to order

Daily Trust
23 Feb 2011

Jega to CJN: Call judges to order

Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission [INEC] Prof. Attahiru Jega has urged Chief Justice of Nigeria Justice Aloysius Katsina-Alu to intervene urgently and stem the frivolous granting of contradictory ex-parte court orders regarding the nomination of election candidates.

In a letter dated February 17, copied to President Goodluck Jonathan, Jega said judges at state and federal high courts have been granting orders “at the drop of the hat” regarding party primaries, a tendency that he said was dangerous to the electoral process.

INEC had so far been served with 132 cases and 70 ex-parte orders, most of them conflicting with each other, the chairman said. He had earlier on Monday said over 150 pre-election cases had been filed against the commission nationwide.

Jega urged the CJN to instruct judges to avoid “frivolous” granting of ex-parte orders and to instruct that lawyers seeking such orders must first give an undertaking that there is no subsisting court order on the same matter from another court.

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