Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem Transfers Election Petition Cases To Abuja, Lagos

In an effort to mitigate political interference in the judicial process, Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem, the President of the Court of Appeal, has ordered the relocation of all election petition cases currently pending before the court in the 36 states to its divisions in Abuja and Lagos.

As a result of this directive, all appellate cases stemming from the decisions of various election petition tribunals across the country will now be heard and resolved exclusively in the Abuja and Lagos divisions of the Court of Appeal. This move means that only two out of the court’s 20 divisions will handle all appellate cases arising from the judgments of election petition tribunals nationwide.

This directive covers gubernatorial, national, and state assembly elections where the Court of Appeal serves as the final court of adjudication.

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A reliable source within the Court of Appeal headquarters in Abuja has disclosed that all appellate cases related to the 1,209 cases filed against the conduct of the 2023 general elections have been reassigned to Abuja and Lagos for their adjudication.

Furthermore, all political parties and their candidates with pending appeal cases have been instructed to adhere to this order by relocating to either Lagos or Abuja, as applicable, for the prosecution of their cases.