Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mahmud Mohammed has urged justices sitting in election tribunals all over the country to stop making conflicting decisions because this will have a negative impact on the perception of the judiciary.
The Chief Justice suggested to the Appeal Court to create “an internal law report for Justices to access either electronically or in print in order to reduce the avenue for conflict in its jurisprudence.”
While speaking at 2015 edition of the Annual Conference of the Court of Appeal, he said “It bears reminding that the overriding objective of every legal system in the world is to do justice. However, this cannot be achieved where there is confusion as to the state of the law as pronounced by the court.
“As your lordships will agree, where an aggrieved person perceives, whether rightly or wrongly, that they will not receive justice, such a situation can indeed bode ill for the community in which he lives and can lead to acrimony and anarchy.
“We must not ignore the negative perception that is occasioned by conflicting judgments delivered at various divisions of the Court of Appeal.
“Such judicial contradictions only result in untold hardships to litigants in their quest for justice. They further cast your lordships in an unfavourable light and leave the judiciary at the mercy of inuendos, crass publications and editorials.”
He also hailed the head of election tribunals, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa for the way she constituted election petitions tribunals in spite of budgetary constraints.
He said “I must similarly commend your lordships for being instrumental in propelling the judiciary towards an improved system of administration of justice in Nigeria.
“With one justice of appeal to 1.8 million Nigerians, I dare say that your efforts at dispensing justice, despite frightening caseload, can best be described as extraordinary.”