NIGERIA @ 66: Focus On Judiciary – Disgraceful conflicting judgements that taint courts reputation

By Henry Ojelu, Assistant Judicial Editor
When two courts issue different orders over the same dispute, the law can suddenly acquire two voices. For litigants, lawyers, security agencies and ordinary citizens, the consequence is more than legal confusion.
It can mean uncertainty over which order to obey, prolonged litigation and, in politically sensitive cases, the risk of turning a courtroom dispute into a wider public crisis.
That concern has become one of the most persistent issues confronting Nigeria’s judiciary, with the Kano Emirate crisis, the Rivers State political dispute and recent Supreme Court decisions providing striking examples of the problem.
The National Judicia...