Court of Appeal Practice Direction, 2013

1.

This Practice Direction shall, save to the extent and as may otherwise be ordered by the president, Court of Appeal, pursuant to Section 248 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), apply to:

(i) All Criminal Appeals relating to the offence of Terrorism, Rape, Kidnapping, Corruption, Money Laundering and Human Trafficking.

(ii) Interlocutory appeals challenging the ruling of the court below on an interlocutory application.

1.

-(a) The purpose of this Practice Direction is to establish, a specialized system, of case management in the Court of Appeal, that will provide for the fair and impartial administration of criminal and civil appeals arising out of cases listed in 3(a) (i) and (ii) below, and the rules made under this Practice Direction shall be construed and applied to eliminate unnecessary delay in the transmission and conduct of appeals and reduce the expense and time spent on appeals by all parties before the court;

(b) This Practice Direction shall enable the Presiding Justice of the Divisions of the Court to fast track the hearing and determination of appeals in respect of cases which fall under the offences of Terrorism, Rape, Kidnapping, Corruption, Money Laundering and Human Trafficking.

(c) The rules made under this Practice Direction shall apply mutatis mutandisto all criminal cases, which fall under the category of offences listed above as well as interlocutory appeals.

(i) Create a system for fast tracking the hearing and determination of interlocutory applications and appeals from the decision of the court below on interlocutory applications and preliminary objections, and for offences of Terrorism, Rape, Kidnapping, Corruption, Money Laundering and Human Trafficking;