Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Ibrahim Auta, has charged judges to dispose of all pending primary election cases before 2015 elections.
Justice Auta who gave the charge at the Court’s End of Year/Award Ceremony for members of staff in Abuja on Thursday, directed the judges to draw the lines on issues bordering on disagreements during party primaries to avoid carrying them over to the general elections.
The chief judge also directed that no political case should be filed in a division of the court other than the division where the cause of action arose.
Auta warned the judges against granting ex-parte orders in political cases, unless they were absolutely necessary.
“As expected, litigants have flooded the courts with suits arising from disagreements over the recent concluded party primaries.
I have directed judges to ensure that all election matters still pending in their courts must be completed before the 2015 elections.
“This is because it does not show any sign of seriousness for any judge to allow such cases to continue to remain in his cause list for whatever reason’’, he said.
He said the court had started harmonising contributions and opinions on the proposed Sentencing Guidelines for Corruption and Related Offences (Practice Direction) 2014 and the Extradition (Proceedings) Rules 2014.
He said this was being done in collaboration with the office of the Attorney General of the Federation and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, this he said, is to ensure that the rules meet all international standards and practices.
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