Concluding all election disputes before the swearing-in of declared winners has been identified as key to protecting the legitimacy of the electoral processes, deepening of good governance and curbing undue influence of the judiciary.

The Executive Director, CLEEN Foundation, Gad Peter, made the call on Wednesday in Abuja at a ‘Policy Brief Observation’ presentation on the 2023 Election Petition Tribunals.

The event, organised with support from the Legal Defence Assistance Project (LEDAP) and the MacArthur Foundation, was to enhance transparency, legitimacy, accountability and fairness of the petition tribunal in Nigeria.

Peter said that based on the petition tribunal observation carried out by the organisation across the country, one major concern of Nigerians was the swearing-in of elected officers before the conclusion of election petition tribunals.

He said that there were lots of negative perceptions of the judgments of the Court of Appeal in some states, especially in Plateau, Zamfara and Kano states.