Politicians Shopping For Favourable Court Rulings: Judicial Council Issues Directives

The era of politicians and others shopping for favourable judgement and orders seems to be in its final throes as the National Judicial Council has made some major decisions to nip such unwholesome actions which have almost made people lose confidence in Nigerian the judicial system.

The NJC on Wednesday issued policy directions to heads of courts nationwide on political and election related cases and the policy takes immediate effect. The policy came out of the deliberations at the 98th meeting of the National Judicial Council which held on Tuesday and Wednesday 10th and 11th May, 2022 and chaired by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Tanko Muhammad.

The meeting also recommended the appointment of 49 judicial officers.

JUSTICE TANKO MUHAMMAD, CHIEF JUSTICE OF NIGERIA
CHAIRMAN, NATIONAL JUDICIAL COUNCIL

The new policy obviously follows NJC’s concern, which had also previously been raised by other people and groups, about by the multiplicity of litigations of political suits at different courts of coordinate jurisdiction across the country, resulting in conflicting orders on the same issues and facts.

The new policy applies to “all suits filed in any court in Nigeria where the parties include the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), any political party or its officers, any other person, natural or legal, suing or sued for a declaration in relation to any action taken or to compel or restrain any action or omission with respect to the affairs of a political party or any election into a public office”, according to a statement after the meeting.

The policy seeks to prevent the multiplicity of litigations at different courts of coordinate jurisdiction across the country, resulting in conflicting orders on the same issues and facts; recognise that courts need to embrace prudential limitations on their powers with a view to curtailing the incidences of unscrupulous forum shopping disrupting the administration of justice and the democratic process; and acknowledge that the circumstances necessitate further administrative measures and procedures to complement and support the judicial process.

The policy has also been made without prejudice to the powers of Election Petitions Tribunals constituted pursuant to the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; or pending the constitution of a Cross Jurisdiction Litigation Panel to give directions on appropriate litigation for cross jurisdiction litigations.

The NJC’s directives to all Federal and State Courts are:

  1. All suits to which these Policy Directions apply shall be filed, received, or entertained only at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory in so far as the relief sought, or potential consequential order(s) or declaration(s) may restrain or compel persons or actions beyond the territorial jurisdiction of any one State;
  2. Where such suits are within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Federal High Court, they shall be filed or received at Abuja and assigned by the Chief Judge of the Court;
  3. All such Suits wherein the cause of action arose in a State and the relief seeks a declaration or to compel or restrain person (s), natural or legal, within that State’s territory, with no consequence outside the State, shall be filed, received, or heard only in that State;
  4. All Heads of Court shall assign cases or constitute panels with a view to forestalling the incidences of conflicting judgements and rulings;
  5. Once facts or issues have been ruled upon, no other Court or Panel of Coordinate Jurisdiction shall be assigned or entertain Suits on the same subject matter and parties shall comply or proceed on appeal to the appropriate higher Court;
  6. Rules of Court shall require sufficient notice and publicity of actions that potentially impact other cases;
  7. Rules of Court shall stipulate solemn disclosure duties on litigants filing actions that may impact other actions.

The NJC directed all Heads of Court to exercise their rule-making and administrative powers to give effect to these Policy Directions.

These decisions by the NJC have received great compliments from all corners and they serve notice to politicians who always try to circumvent the provisions of the law by trying to, with the help of their legal counsel, hoodwink judges who are far from the original location of previous court orders on same matters. Such lawyers ought to receive serious reprimands for making promises to politicians and encouraging them to give some judges bad names. It also serves notice to judges to be aware and of what their colleagues are doing in other parts of the country so that their names are not dragged in the mud when they make some spurious orders because of lack of knowledge or information of what is happening elsewhere,

We also await the will of the NJC to implement these directives and sanction erring lawyers and judicial officers.

On the appointment of judicial officers, the Council also considered the list of candidates presented by its Interview Committee and recommended 49 successful candidates for appointment as Heads of Courts and other Judicial Officers in Nigeria. NJC also received six notifications of retirements and one notification of death from the Federal and State High Courts.

 

IMAGE CREDIT: njc.gov.ng

 

2 Comments on “Politicians Shopping For Favourable Court Rulings: Judicial Council Issues Directives”

  1. This is a commendable addition to the sanity of our legal system.

    But as we know, ours in Nigeria isn’t a case of insufficient laws, policies, or ideas to solving our problems but a case of paucity of enforcement, implementation, and execution of these laws, policies, and ideas.

    Politicians to my mind are not to blame for forum shopping; it is the lawyers aiding and abetting them.

    After all, a politician qua politician is not a Barrister and Solicitor of the Nigerian Supreme Court but a lawyer qua lawyer qualified to appear in a Nigerian court

    A politician is merely a lawyer’s client and it is the lawyer’s duty to ensure he only represents his client within the ambit of the law such that he is not to advance a cause not permissible in law even when such a cause can be argued as legal. Violation of which amounts to a professional misconduct that is punishable.

    Lawyers litigating same cause of action in different courts of coordinate jurisdiction clearly violate the foregoing but how many of them have been prosecuted? Most shocking is lawyers re-litigating a case already decided by a court before another court of coordinate jurisdiction in a bid to obtain a favourable trial judgement. Even a yr 1 student of law knows such a matter should be appealed cos that is what law and practice require.

    While this policy direction is laudable, for me, it is surplus to need and may suffer same fate as similar initiatives before it.

  2. This is a commendable addition to the sanity of our legal system.

    But as we know, ours in Nigeria isn’t a case of insufficient laws, policies, or ideas to solving our problems but a case of paucity of enforcement, implementation, and execution of these laws, policies, and ideas.

    Politicians to my mind are not to blame for forum shopping; it is the lawyers aiding and abetting them.

    After all, a politician qua politician is not a Barrister and Solicitor of the Nigerian Supreme Court but a lawyer qua lawyer qualified to appear in a Nigerian court

    A politician is merely a lawyer’s client and it is the lawyer’s duty to ensure he only represents his client within the ambit of the law such that he is not to advance a cause not permissible in law even when such a cause can be argued as legal. Violation of which amounts to a professional misconduct that is punishable.

    Lawyers litigating same cause of action in different courts of coordinate jurisdiction clearly violate the foregoing but how many of them have been prosecuted? Most shocking is lawyers re-litigating a case already decided by a court before another court of coordinate jurisdiction in a bid to obtain a favourable trial judgement. Even a yr 1 student of law knows such a matter should be appealed cos that is what law and practice require.

    While this policy direction is laudable, for me, it is surplus to need and may suffer same fate as similar initiatives before it.

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