Posted by AFP on
Nigeria has set up an election tribunal to adjudicate in disputes and complaints arising from the April general election, officials said Tuesday.
LAGOS (AFP) - Nigeria has set up an election tribunal to adjudicate in disputes and complaints arising from the April general election, officials said Tuesday.
They said the chief justice of the federation, Idris Kutigi, on Monday swore in judges that would serve on the tribunal.
Kutigi advised judges against accepting bribes from politicians in order to influence the rulings of the tribunal.
"Do not allow yourself to be used by politicians. The national judicial council will pursue you if you compromise yourself," he said.
Governorship and state parliamentary elections in Nigeria are scheduled for April 14 with presidential and national assembly polls a week later on April 21 in the oil rich west African country of 140 million people.
The crucial poll will be the first transition from one civilian government to another and tensions are already high ahead of the vote which will choose a successor to President Olusegun Obasanjo whose two terms of eight years end on May 29.