THE Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has raised fresh fears over next year’s general elections.

Its President Mr. Joseph Daudu SAN, said there is "clear and present danger that our legal system may collapse due to unnecessary emphasis on election cases".

Besides, he warned that, if the various "warning signals raised on the issue of corruption" among judges, "are not heeded, jurisdiction may one day be taken away from regular courts on election matters".

Daudu spoke in Abuja, yesterday, at the valedictory court session in honour of Mr. Justice Ikechi. F. Ogbuagu, who retired from the Supreme Court at the mandatory age of 70.

The NBA boss lamented the congestion of cases in the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court, which he regretted would get worse by the pre-election and election cases.

By the Electoral Act, 2010, Court of Appeal will be the court of first instance in governorship election disputes while the Supreme Court now has final jurisdiction.

Citing Kaduna Judicial Division of the Court of Appeal to buttress his argument, Daudu pointed out that it takes about eight to 10 years for an appeal to be decided while in the Supreme Court, it takes about six years for ordinary appeals to be concluded.

He wondered if traditional cases heard by the courts would not suffer as a result of additional burden imposed on the court by the Electoral Act.

As a way forward, Daudu renewed call for Constitutional Court which was rejected by the National Assembly during the Constitution Review process.

The NBA boss also criticised "excessive reliance on written submissions" by courts, which according to him, "kills advocacy".

"A stone cold document cannot inspire the kind of persuasion a good advocacy can produce", he pointed out.

He urged the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Aloysius Katsina-Alu, to constitute and inaugurate the Administration of Justice Commission charged with the duty of supervising and monitoring activities of key institutions of the justice sector.

Daudu appealed to the CJN not to treat the purported corruption among judges with levity as it is not impossible for desperate politicians to seek to influence judges handling their cases.