‘Supreme Court justices are overworked’

He suggested that the number of justices in the apex court of Nigeria be increased to ensure quick dispensation of justice.
 Speaking with newsmen in Ilorin, Ahmad, the former Dean, Faculty of Law University of Ilorin who represents Ilorin South/East federal constituency of the House of Representatives also noted that the Supreme Court needs not entertain all matters emanating from the Court of Appeal.
  He said: “The justices of the Supreme Court are being overworked. You see the judiciary is like a pyramid. From the Magistrate Court to Area
Court, High Court and Shari’a Court, it gets narrower to Court of Appeal, it gets narrower and then to Supreme Court.
“So the more justices of the Supreme Court that we have the better for dispensation of our cases. You will see that the average time that cases spend in the Supreme Court now is between three to seven years.
Solutions could be multifaceted; one of those is to increase the number of judges, “another one which we have done in the constitutional amendment is to provide that interlocutory appeals would not stop prosecution of criminal cases. That would also go a long way in reducing cases at the Supreme Court. Another one that the Supreme Court itself should do, like the US Supreme Court does, is that it needs not entertain all cases that come from Court of Appeal.
 “There is need to look at it, if there is nothing remarkable about the appeal, if the issue has been settled, they should just refer the case back to Court of Appeal, that means it has affirmed it.”
  The lawmaker who is left the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the All Progressives Congress (APC) with 36 other reps, also dissected Section 68 (1) (g) of the constitution bordering on cross carpeting by lawmakers, saying the section is being misinterpreted to declare their seats vacant.
  According to him, the section provides that a  National Assembly member could defect if there is faction/division in his party or merger.