The House of Representatives is considering a constitutional amendment that would make the Court of Appeal the final authority for resolving disputes related to governorship elections. This move, if passed, would remove the Supreme Court from the process.
Bayo Balogun, the Chairman of the House Committee on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), discussed the proposed bill during an appearance on Channels Television.
He explained that the legislation aims to streamline the election petition process and reduce the time it takes to resolve legal challenges.
“What we are trying to do now is to reduce the tribunal period to 90 days and the appeal to 50 days,” Balogun said.
He added that by adjusting the timelines for filing petitions and appeals, the entire legal process could be completed within 185 days.
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The bill, sponsored by Nnamdi Ezechi, would also mandate that elections are held earlier than the current schedule to ensure that all post-election litigation is concluded before a governor’s inauguration.
Balogun noted that this change would create a tiered system where governorship and presidential disputes would be handled at different stages, preventing an overload of cases at the Supreme Court.
Under the current system, governorship election petitions can be appealed from the Tribunal to the Court of Appeal and then to the Supreme Court.
The proposed amendment would make the Court of Appeal the final judicial body for governorship, National, and State Houses of Assembly election petitions, leaving only presidential election disputes to be heard by the Supreme Court.
