Computation of Time in Election Litigation in Nigeria – Emerging Trend and Implication for Litigants’ Rights

Abstract

Most steps in the course of civil litigation, including election litigation, are required to be taken within particular time frame with failure to comply attracting serious consequences. Until recently, the rules regulating computation of time in Nigeria seemed to have been fairly settled. These rules apply across the board to all legal transactions including litigations, election or otherwise. Most basic of these rules is that the day of occurrence of an event is not to be included in computing number of days from such event. Of recent, however, there appears to be an attempt to formulate different rules for computation of time in election litigation.  It is proposed in this work to examine the possible legal justification for this departure and the implication for the rights of parties in election litigation in Nigeria.

Keywords:            computation of time, election litigation in Nigeria, emerging trend.