The House of Representatives on Thursday rejected a bill to reduce the number of cases that can get to the Supreme Court.
The constitution alteration bill, sponsored by Luke Onofiok (PDP, Akwa Ibom), was debated and subsequently rejected at the second reading stage.
The bill, titled “Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Fifth Alteration) Bill,2020”, proposed that the Supreme Court will determine the type of cases it will hear from the Appeal Court.
However, cases involving determination of the winner of presidential election, governorship, pre-election matters were not part of the proposed amendment.
In his lead debate, Onofiok argued that the Supreme Court is already overburdened, not fully composed, and that only political cases are getting expedient hearing, while other civil and criminal cases take years to be determined.
He said, “At the moment, the court is composed of only just 18 justices. It is these 18 justices that handle all appeals and deliver justice to the population of over 201 million Nigerian.”
Some lawmakers who contributed to the debate cautioned that the bill should be duly scrutinized at the committee stage.
Uzoma Abonta (PDP, Abia) speaking against the bill said the bill has the potential to create more harms while curing a defect.
He said, “We should not try to cure a defect by creating more defects. Appeal is a right, not a privilege. Telling somebody not to get to the end of litigation is not right.”
However, when the presiding officer, Deputy Speaker Idris Wase put the bill to vote, it was rejected by majority of the lawmakers.
