By Yemi Oyeyemi, Abuja.
The President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Adamu Bulkachuwa, revealed on Thursday that a total of 805 cases that emanated from the 2019 general elections have been successfully disposed off by the appellate court.
Justice Bulkachuwa said the 805 appeals arose from the various petitions filed by aggrieved contestants against the results declared in the general elections.
Speaking at the 2019 annual conference of the Appeal Court Justices held in Abuja, Justice Bulkachuwa showered encomiums on her colleagues on the Appeal Court bench for their hard work and resilience during adjudications of the election cases.
The Appeal Court President at the conference attended by Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN Muhammad Tanko Ibrahim, admitted that handling of the election cases was so hectic, adding that it took collective efforts of the Justices for the cases to be disposed off to make the country’s democracy stronger .
Reviewing the performance of the court in the outgoing year, the Appeal Court President announced that a total of 4,007 judgments were delivered while 7,911 motions were also disposed off during the period.
She attributed the performance of the court to the reforms carried out on its Rules and the Practice Direction which are now giving speedy hearing to cases before the court.
As a result of hardwork of Justices of the court, Justice Bulkachuwa disclosed that four justices of the court have been elevated to the Supreme Cosssurt bench.
On the yearly conference, she said it was put together for the justices to brainstorm and sharpen their skills having discovered training as vital part of man development.
To enable the court successfully clear the backlog of pending cases, Justice Bulkachuwa, announced that four new divisions of the court will soon be opened.
She appealed to the Appeal Court justices participating in the conference to take maximum advantage to be provided, adding that experts from various fields have been carefully selected to present papers on different topics.
The CJN, in his brief remarks at the conference, urged the appellate court justices to cooperate with each other, be truthful, hard-working and shun egoism in the discharge of their judicial functions.