A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Afe Babalola, has said only retired judges should preside over election petition tribunals.
Afe Babalola, who stated this on Monday in Ado-Ekiti, while speaking at the celebration of his 60th anniversary at the bar, reasoned that with retired judges handling the election tribunals, regular court cases would not be affected.
He advocated a total overhaul of the judiciary through constitutional amendment.
“Our judiciary today needs a total overhaul and you cannot do it without a new constitution. I have about three cases myself in respect of matters arising from the University.
“For the past four years, these cases have been on. We have some judges here, the headquarters won’t be able to sit for many months because they are handling what they call election petitions.
“Election petitions should not be handled by sitting judges, they should be decided only by the committee set up consisting of senior advocates and retired judges in that case regular courts would not close down”, he submitted.
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