THE ROLE OF TRIBUNALS AND DISPUTE RESOLUTION CENTRES IN THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE IN NIGERIA BY Hussein MUKHTAR Registration No. PhD./Law/41532/2004-05 A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE SCHOOL OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES, AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA, IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN LAW - PhD DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC LAW, FACULTY OF LAW, ABU, ZARIA APRIL, 2012 i DECLARATION I hereby declare that this work is original. It has not been presented in any previous application for a higher degree in this or any other University. All published and unpublished materials works cited have been duly acknowledged. ..................................................... ........................................ Hussein MUKHTAR Date ii CERTIFICATION The Dissertation titled “THE ROLE OF TRIBUNALS AND DISPUTE RESOLUTION CENTRES IN THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE IN NIGERIA” by Hussein MUKHTAR meets the regulations governing the award of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Law - PhD of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria and is approved for its contribution to knowledge and literary presentation. ........................................................ ................................................. Professor Kharisu S. Chukkol Date Chairman, Supervisory Committee ........................................................ .................................................. Professor Yusuf Aboki Date Member, Supervisory Committee .......................................................... ................................................... Dr. (Mrs) Jummai A. M. Audi Date Member, Supervisory Committee ......................................................... ................................................... Dr. Yusuf Dankofa Date Head, Department of Public Law ....................................................... ................................................... Professor A. A. Joshua Date Dean, School of Post Graduate Studies iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I am eternally grateful to the Allah the Merciful, the Compassionate for sparing my life to witness this ecstatic moment of glory. I am indeed more than grateful to my three supervisors; Professor Kharisu Sufiyan Chukkol, Professor Yusuf Aboki and Dr (Mrs) Jummai A. M. Audi who sacrificed their personal comfort and convenience to guide me through in supervising this dissertation. Particularly, I am short of proper wordings to convey my appreciation and gratitude to Professor Kharisu Sufiyan Chukkol who has mentored me from the lowest to the highest qualification in law. The elderly advice and guidance I got from him made it so compelling for me to embark on continuous research that culminates in to this work. I appreciate my second supervisor Professor Yusuf Aboki for the scrupulous corrections and invaluable suggestions that enriched this work and whose book “Introduction to Legal Research Methodology” not only assisted me in my research techniques but indeed made the work a lot easier. My sincere and heart-felt appreciation goes to my third supervisor Dr (Mrs) J.A.M. Audi for her tremendous and untiring support and guidance that has substantially improved this work and also sustained its very essence. I beseech Allah the Almighty to reward and bless them abundantly. I am also deeply indebted to Dr. Yusuf Dankofa and Dr. A. I. Bappah and their respective teaming members of the two Seminar Committees for their iv wonderful guidance and support that made the presentation of my seminar papers so lively, so friendly and interesting that I wished I could do more. I am also indebted to Kehinde Aina the founder and director of the Negotiation and Conflict Management Group (NCMG), the Lagos Multi-door Courthouse and the Abuja Multi-door Courthouse for providing me with a lot of relevant materials on alternative dispute resolution. I equally owe appreciation to Professor Taiwo Osipitan, SAN, Anthony Idigbe, SAN and Barr. V. Uche Obi who made available to me both soft and hard copies of very useful materials on capital market laws and in particular the Investments and Securities Tribunal (IST). I also appreciate my learned brothers Justice Adamu Jauro, JCA who provided me with some useful materials on election tribunals’ cases and Professor Owoade, JCA whose words of encouragement have gingered me up. I will not forget to appreciate my brother and next of kin Alhaji Muhammad Lele Mukhtar, CON for choosing the legal profession for me in 1973 soon after I finished secondary education. His wonderful foresight and fatherly advice, guidance, support, vision and set target ultimately culminates in to this research work. To him, I am more than grateful. I will not forget to mention the Chief Registrar of the Court of Appeal of Nigeria Alhaji Aliyu Ibrahim who gave so much invaluable support and v materials to realise this research work. I truly appreciate him for his wonderful support. I appreciate the assistance of my ward Muhammad Sabo a student currently at 400 level of LL.B. programme who always has been assisting me with logistics in the production of this research work. I shall forever cherish and pray for my beloved deceased wife Hajiya Amina (of blessed memory) and salute her for the support and encouragement she gave me at every stage of my academic pursuit, who gloriously returned to Allah S.W.T on the 15th February 1998. May her and our final aboard be Jannatul Firdaus, ameen. Finally, I cherish and salute my dear wife A’isha who has relentlessly stood by me under all conditions and circumstances. She has prayed daily for, inter alia, the successful completion of this work. I appreciate her patience and onerous courage and perseverance and total sacrifice of her life partner to persistent attachment to the study room. I am grateful to her for all her sacrifices and contribution. I also thank our dear children who helped in various ways and for their understanding throughout the period I was committed to this research work. They include Samira, Falila, Ummul-Khayr, Hafsat, Mukhtar, Waleed, Waleeda, Amina, Nana, A’isha, Muzzakkir, Al-Amin, Maryam and especially Abdulkadir Hussein Mukhtar (Khalil) – a 300 level LL.B (Sharia) student at the Faculty of Law ABU Zaria, who took the onerous task of making the final corrections for this work. May Allah SWT bless them a lot. vi DEDICATION This work is dedicated to the Holy Messenger of Allah Muhammad P.B.U.H the most perfect crusader of justice, who has never uttered anything else other than the whole truth. It is also dedicated to everyone who loves him and stands firmly by the whole truth, for truth is the key word to the attainment of justice and sustenance of the rule of law and the best service to humanity. It resolves every dispute instantly and is devoid of all forms of miscarriages in the administration of justice in Nigeria and elsewhere. vii ABSTRACT The judicial powers of the Federation and of States are vested in courts established by section 6 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) and other courts established for the Federation by an Act of the National Assembly or in case of states, law made by the relevant State House of Assembly. The judicial powers gradually, due influx and consequential protraction of cases, had to be shared with emerging tribunals established for particular purposes. This development consequently brought about a dual parallel system of adjudicating institutions operating side by side. Multiplicity and increase in litigations which generated into incessant undue protraction of cases in courts has posed an imminent threat to breakdown of law and order that may ultimately lead to anarchy in the society. Under this compelling situation, an alternative means to decongest the courts became absolutely inevitable. Nigeria resorted to, inter alia, benchmarking the British experience to establish tribunals to handle some specific cases requiring more expeditious determination like election petitions, breach of code of conduct by public office holders, capital market cases, etc. Election tribunals stand unique in the administration of justice in Nigeria. Both the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) and the successive Electoral Acts 2002, 2006 and 2010 have all provided for a fast tracking procedure to ensure prompt disposal of election petitions and appeals due to their sui generis nature. A thorough appraisal of election cases has been done right from first instance tribunals to appellate tribunals. The time-honoured tradition of the Nigerian people of dispute resolution also enjoys formal patronage by establishing dispute resolution centres like the Lagos Multi-door Court House and the Abuja Multi-door Court House by the Negotiation and Conflict Management Group (NCMG), etc. All hands have, since the formal establishment of various resolution centres, been on deck to resolve most disputes by providing the much needed prompt, easy and friendly resolution of disputes. The various aspects of alternative dispute resolution have been examined and the several advantages of the alternative system of administration of justice identified. The problems and difficulties that cause hiccups have been discussed and solutions proffered. The common problem running through the operation of every tribunal is delay in the trial proceedings. This work aims principally at evolving ways of minimising delays in disposal of cases in tribunals and dispute resolution centres and at the same time enhancing the quality of adjudication as a tool for decongesting