Dearth of Judges Causes Delays - Appeal Court
Election Petitions
From Chuks Okocha and Ahamefula Ogbu in Abuja
President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Umaru Abdullahi, has explained that election appeal petitions are delayed by the tribunals hearing them because of dearth of Appeal Court judges. He said the shortage of the judges was caused by high rate of retirement at the bench.
Justice Abdullahi further explained that the effect of the shortages had led to over-stretching of the few existing judges who find it difficult to cope with over-load of work.
Abdullahi provided this explanation while responding to the petition by All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) complaining against undue delay in the disposal of its appeal petitions by the appellate court.
APGA in a letter dated June 28, 2004 and signed by its national chairman, Chief Chekwas Okorie, had claimed that the continued delay in the disposal of its election appeals had the potential of affecting the course of justice for both the party and the individual petitioners.
Responding to the petition in a letter dated July 6, 2004, Abdullahi said, "the appeal was not taken, as a result of shortage of Justices due to a number of retirements recently. I am hoping to have new additional hands soon."
The Appeal Court President urged the APGA chairman to be patient "as the appeals will be treated as soon as the Court of Appeal resumes after the vacation."
Fifteen months after the last general election, petitions still pend in many of the election petition tribunals. In many of the cases except the one on the presidential polls, the appeals have two layers to traverse before their final determination. From the election tribunals, the case can move on to election appeal tribunal, which will be final appellate court.
Meanwhile, APGA has called on members of the National Assembly from Zamfara State to return the Peugeot 604 car gift given to them by the state government, or face legal action.
In a statement signed by the National Secretary of the party, Alhaji Sani Abdullahi Shinkafi, the party described the car gift as "Greek Gift," aimed at satisfying the inordinate ambition of the state governor, Alhaji Ahmed Sani Yerima.
"This is a clear case of executive recklessness," the statement noted. It commended Senator Saidu Dansaudu for rejecting the car gift.
The statement said APGA would take legal action against the lawmakers involved, if they did not return the car gifts within 21 days.
But a beneficiary of the Zamfara State largesse, Hon Uzairu Suleiman Tahir, has justified the car gift by Yerima, which he said was normal and in order.
In a statement issued by the lawmaker on behalf of six of his colleagues in the House of Representatives, Tahir said since they were working in the overall interest of the state, asking for and receiving Peugeot 406 cars from the governor was only to ease their problem of logistics.
According to him, it was wrong for Dansadau to reject the offer after accepting other gestures in the past from the same government.
"The gesture was to enable the beneficiaries discharge their legislative responsibilities diligently, efficiently and effectively. We the seven members of the House of Representatives from Zamfara met his Excellency, the Governor, Alhaji Ahmad Yerima, and requested for an additional Peugeot 406 car each to assist us in the discharge of our duties.
"He (Governor) in his magnanimity included the three Senators from the State for assistance because he believed we have identical problems in this regard", he said.
The lawmaker pointed at other states, which placed members from their states on monthly and quarterly allowances and salaries. He added that those rejecting the gifts and making it a public issue once collected various sums of money to finance their election campaigns in 2003.
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