Key points
- The Federal High Court registries in all divisions will officially open to lawyers on weekends and public holidays for filing pre-election cases.
- Chief Registrar Yahaya Shafa announced the operational changes on Thursday in Abuja.
- Registry offices will be open specifically between the hours of 10am and 2pm.
- The special scheduling became necessary to accommodate the limited time frame allowed for filing pre-election matters.
- Timeline schedules issued by the Independent National Electoral Commission for the 2027 general elections are currently being challenged in court.
Main Story
The Federal High Court (FHC) says its registries in all the divisions of the court will officially be open to lawyers on weekends and public holidays for filing of pre-election cases.
The Chief Registrar of FHC, Yahaya Shafa, made this known on Thursday in Abuja in a statement titled: “Notice to Lawyers and the General Public.” Shafa said that the court would be in operation between 10am and 2pm.
He said the development became necessary in order for the court to meet up with the limited time frame for filing pre-election matters.
To evaluate intermediate structural dependencies, judicial administrators are shifting personnel shifts to prevent processing backlogs ahead of upcoming statutory deadlines.
Legal analysts note that increasing registry access ensures that stringent filing timelines do not inadvertently lock out aggrieved political stakeholders.
Media reports indicate that though the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) issued election timetable and schedule of activities for the conduct of the 2027 general elections, the timeline is still being challenged in court.
The Issues
- Managing the heavy administrative pressure of processing sensitive pre-election litigations within a highly limited time frame.
- Resolving the active legal uncertainties surrounding the official 2027 general election timetable issued by the electoral commission.
- Maintaining consistent operational capacity across all divisional registries outside normal working hours.
What’s Being Said
- Outlining the formal operational adjustments made to the court’s calendar for legal practitioners, Chief Registrar Yahaya Shafa announced: “The Federal High Court of Nigeria formally notifies all legal practitioners that Registries in all Divisions of the Federal High Court would be open between 10:00am and 2:00pm Weekends and Public Holidays for Filing of Pre-Election Matters Only.”
- Explaining why the administrative changes were urgently put in place at the divisional level, the statement concluded: “This has become expedient to meet up with the limited time frame for filing pre-election matters,”
What’s Next
- Legal practitioners will begin utilizing the weekend and holiday windows to submit their pre-election cases.
- Divisional registries across the country will adjust staff rosters to remain open from 10am to 2pm on non-working days.
- High courts will continue handling the ongoing lawsuits challenging the electoral commission’s 2027 timetable.
Bottom Line
To ensure strict statutory deadlines are met amid active legal challenges against the 2027 INEC timetable, the Federal High Court has ordered all divisional registries to open on weekends and public holidays from 10am to 2pm exclusively for filing pre-election matters.
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