Chairman Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Aba Branch, Mr. Charles Onuchukwu, has said that the non appointment of judges and dilapidated court rooms are frustrating justice delivery in the state.
He explained that the High courts have fewer Judges while the magistrate courts lack court rooms to sit and hear cases.
In an interview with Vanguard, Onuchukwu, disclosed that there are lots of awaiting trial cases with suspects languishing in correctional centers without trial.
He stated that there are fewer judges in the state judiciary as more judges cannot be appointed following a suit filed by some persons against the appointment of judges.
The NBA chairman further stated that the situation has worsened as retiring Judges in the state judiciary cannot be replaced because of the pending suit.
He said;”I’m sure you are aware that since 2021 there has not been any appointment of judges because certain persons filed a suit against the appointment judges. The last screening exercise that took place in Abia State was in 2022. In fact, the National Judicial Council, NJC, was on the verge of announcing the appointment of judges in Abia but certain persons filed a suit against the NJC, the Chief Judge, and the Attorney General in the State.
“This has put the appointment of judges on hold. The policy of the NJC is that hence there’s any suit, it becomes a subjudice. They cannot even do anything about it. Other states like Imo State have had about two different appointments of judges, swearing in not less than 10 or 15 judges since our problems here started. The judges that are retired in Abia, their spaces have not even been filled since their retirement. That case filed on the appointment of judges is on appeal right and the NJC insist they must finish whatever matters in court before anything will take place.
“There is a proliferation of cases; many people have gone to file one suit or the other. What is even saving Abia State right now is because there was an extension in the retirement age of Judges. If that extension was not done, it would have been very embarrassing to hear that we have only about five or three judges in Abia State. So, when you talk about the delay in criminal trials, one of the problems they’re having is the court not sitting due to one reason or the other. You go to the entire Obingwa today; they have only one High court. When you get to the cause list of a judge, he will have over 30-40 cases. He can only handle a few of those overstretched lists. The judge will not kill himself. In places like Osisoma-Ngwa where they are supposed to have more than three courts, you have only two Judges that cover the Osisioma Ngwa division combined with the Ugwunagbo division. The other Judge retired in 2021,there has been no replacement. How can you have only two courts sitting in Osisioma Ngwa and Ugwunagbo handling matters from such a large area? We have the same problem in Ukwa East and Ukwa West where we have one court for the two local governments and one Judge handling cases there. So, the problem is, if there are enough courts and enough Judges handling matters, those matters must be heard expeditiously and the fate of those involved can be decided on time.
“In the case of the magistrate courts, their biggest problems are that there are not enough court rooms to operate from. Some magistrate courts here sit in the afternoon.
“You’ll come to court and they will tell you that it is an afternoon court. Some courts now alternate, this one will sit two days in a week, the other will take over or one sits in the morning and the other in the afternoon. So, we’re going to meet the Governor on this. Although he has made some statements about it, I think when we had our annual general meeting recently and the Attorney General spoke about it that this is the first time the judiciary is considered in the budget where courts will be built. However, we have not seen that yet and we’re hopeful it will come to past. So, the challenges is that our High courts are not having enough judges while our magistrate courts lack court rooms. This is caused by the suits pending in different courts on the appointment of judges.”
On the way forward, Onuchukwu disclosed that the chairmen of the five branches of the NBA in the state are looking into the matter and would soon take a decision.
“We will meet to discuss and take a position on what we can do, those to meet and even those involved in the matters that are preventing the appointment of Judges.
“We can see how the courts in other states are functioning, but over here it’s a different case where people will file suits simply because they were not favoured according to their expectations. So, everybody is suffering right now and it should not be so. The situation has made many citizens see lawyers as trying to extort them while the problem is because we lack judges. How many cases will the sitting judges hear in a day? These are the challenges.”
