CJN: Judges Warned Against Conflicting Orders for 2027 Elections

• Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, warned judges against forum shopping and conflicting orders ahead of the 2027 general elections.
• The warning was delivered at the 2026 National Judicial Institute Roundtable for Heads of Courts in Abuja.
• Judges were instructed to ensure impartiality, strict adherence to law, and meticulous scrutiny of election petition applications, resisting improper ex-parte orders.
• The CJN emphasized that forum shopping undermines judicial consistency, encourages abuse, and erodes public confidence in the judiciary.
• Concerns were also raised about delays in justice delivery, with calls for heads of courts to improve administrative management of dockets and reduce case backlogs.

The Chief Justice underscored that the judiciary must be prepared to fulfill its constitutional duties with unwavering impartiality, courage, and fidelity to the law, especially when handling politically sensitive matters.

The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, has issued a stern caution to judicial officers, particularly heads of courts, regarding practices that could undermine the integrity of the justice system as the nation approaches the 2027 general elections. Speaking in Abuja at the opening of the 2026 Roundtable for Heads of Courts, an event organized by the National Judicial Institute, the CJN specifically warned against forum shopping, the deliberate concealment of related legal proceedings, and attempts to secure conflicting judicial orders.

Justice Kekere-Ekun highlighted that disputes arising from elections inherently attract significant public scrutiny and exert considerable pressure on the courts. She emphasized the critical need for judicial officers to maintain unwavering impartiality and strictly adhere to legal principles in all such cases. The judiciary, she asserted, must be fully prepared to discharge its constitutional responsibilities with courage and fidelity to the law, ensuring that politically sensitive matters are handled without succumbing to public sentiment or external pressures from any quarter.

The CJN underscored that the judiciary must be prepared to fulfill its constitutional duties with unwavering impartiality, courage, and fidelity to the law, especially when handling politically sensitive matters. She stressed that the political sensitivity of a case, public sentiment, or the urgency of its presentation should never override the meticulous application of the Constitution, the Electoral Act, and the established rules of court. Heads of courts were further tasked with establishing robust administrative frameworks to ensure the timely and orderly processing of election-related cases.

Judicial officers received a clear directive to meticulously scrutinize all applications, demanding full and frank disclosure of relevant facts from litigants. They must also pay due regard to any related proceedings and firmly resist any attempts to exploit urgent applications or ex-parte orders to gain an improper advantage. Justice Kekere-Ekun unequivocally stated that the integrity of judicial proceedings must remain uncompromised by competing political interests or external pressures, warning that forum shopping, in particular, is highly detrimental to the Nigerian judiciary. This practice, she noted, erodes consistency, fosters abuse of court processes, and exposes the institution to avoidable public controversy.

The CJN reiterated the responsibility of heads of courts to ensure that all election-related cases are handled with competence, expedition, and strict adherence to the law. She also voiced significant concern over the persistent delays in the determination of cases, identifying timely justice delivery as one of the most pressing challenges confronting the Nigerian judiciary. Such delays, she explained, impose substantial financial and emotional burdens on litigants, diminish the practical value of judicial remedies, and ultimately weaken public confidence in the entire justice system.

While acknowledging that some causes of delay, such as inadequate funding, infrastructure, and judicial manpower, are systemic, Justice Kekere-Ekun pointed out that many others can be effectively addressed through improved administrative practices. She cited inefficient docket management, repeated adjournments, poor scheduling, and a failure to monitor inactive cases as factors that unnecessarily prolong proceedings. To combat these issues, the CJN urged heads of courts to diligently monitor their caseloads, identify cases that have remained pending for extended periods, and develop strategic approaches to reduce existing backlogs. A clear understanding of the court's docket — including the number and age of pending cases, categories experiencing the greatest delays, and the underlying reasons for their protracted status — is essential to inform realistic strategies for backlog reduction, optimize the allocation of hearing dates, and ensure the prompt removal of concluded matters.

Lawyers involved in election petitions and other politically sensitive cases must be acutely aware of the judiciary's heightened vigilance against forum shopping, conflicting orders, and improper ex-parte applications. This signals a stricter enforcement of procedural safeguards and a push for expedited, impartial justice, requiring practitioners to ensure full disclosure and meticulous adherence to rules to avoid judicial sanctions or adverse rulings.

Source: Original reporting via PUNCH.