For a brief while, the Federal High Court will be closed so that its justices can participate in Saturday's presidential and National Assembly elections.
The court's chief judge, John Tsoho, stated in a letter that the break will begin on February 22 and end on February 26. (February 28).
According to a directive from February 20, judges will hear urgent cases from all throughout the nation.
According to the proposed system, a judge will be tasked with hearing urgent matters from the North, South-West, and South-Southeast regions of the nation.
“The Administrative Judges in the Abuja, Lagos and Port Harcourt Judicial Divisions, shall ensure that a Judge is designated to cater for the North, South-West, SouthSouth/South-East Geo-political Areas, respectively, regarding urgent matters during the period,” the circular read in part.
Nigerians will vote this Saturday to elect the president and National Assembly.
President Muhammadu Buhari, whose second term ends on May 29, is being challenged by 18 contenders.
On March 11, which is two weeks after the presidential election, voters in 28 states will choose their governor. Nonetheless, there will be elections for the state House of Assembly in all 36 states that make up the federation.
The Federal High Court hears the majority of the pre-election cases from the various political parties' primaries held last year.
The Chief Judge assembled a special task team of judges in November to ensure that the numerous cases that agitated lawmakers filed before the election were speedily resolved.
The Chief Judge stated in a circular that judges on the task force would halt all ordinary proceedings in their courts in order to rapidly decide the election cases.
On Wednesday, Catherine Christopher, the court's assistant director of information, cited Mr Tsoho as saying, “In view of the large volume of Pre-Election cases filed so far; with the imminent attendant risk of lapsing, it has become necessary to constitute a Task Force to speedily dispose of the matters, particularly in those Judicial Divisions with a glut of them.”
He said the task force members “will have four weeks to dispose of the pre-election cases.”
In July 2022, Mr Tsoho issued a practice direction on pre-election cases. He said it would, among other things, “provide for a fair, impartial and expeditious determination of pre-election cases.”