Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Ibadan branch, says lawyers will boycott the courts if the Pre-Action Protocol Rule, contained in Oyo State High Court Civil Procedure Rule, 2022, is not suspended.<\/p>\n
Chairman of the association, Mrs Folasade Aladeniyi, issued the threat at a news briefing on Tuesday in Ibadan.<\/p>\n
According to her, the rule is limiting and hindering the constitutional rights of litigants and legal practitioners\u2019 access to the court to seek legal redress.<\/p>\n
The News Agency Of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the rules, which include Practice Directions on Pre-action Protocol Specific Claim, review of filing fees and other administrative fees payable to the state judiciary, were established by a former Chief Judge, Justice Munta Abimbola, in 2022.<\/p>\n
She said that after NBA\u2019s general meeting on Nov. 4, members resolved that a seven-day notice be given to the judiciary to suspend and\/or withdraw the pre-action protocol rule.<\/p>\n
The NBA chairman warned that lawyers would engage in total boycott of all the courts in the state if the rule was not suspended.<\/p>\n
According to her, the notice issued on Nov. 6 and will lapse on Nov. 13.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe hereby give the notice as resolved by the entire Bar.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe reason for the Bar\u2019s resolution is aptly captured in the fact that the existence of the said pre-action protocol now limits and hinders the constitutional rights of the litigants and the legal practitioners to access the court to seek legal redress.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe wish to place it on record that the Bar also resolved at the said November monthly general meeting that the Oyo State judiciary should, as a matter of urgency, consider a downward review of the prohibitive and exorbitant filing fees and other administrative charges enshrined in the new Oyo State High Court Civil Procedure Rules 2022, payable by courts\u2019 users.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlso, the recent increment in the fees for commissioning an affidavit on the new e-affidavit platform put in place by the Oyo State judiciary which was discovered to have been recently increased from N1,100 to N2,500 be reviewed downward.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is in the light of the foregoing that we are of the firm view that your lordship would consider and give effect to the Bar\u2019s demands, as contained in this notice.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is to prevent avoidable occurrence of courts\u2019 boycott and other lawful means to press home the Bar\u2019s demands, if Oyo State judiciary fails to accede to the yearnings and demands of Bar,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Aladeniyi also urged the state government to provide favourable working conditions for the judiciary to enable it perform its duties effectively.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need more judges; we should have up to 33 but now, we have only 20; this makes the judges to be over-laboured.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlso, the state\u2019s Ministry of Justice is under-funded; lawyers are not well paid while the court environment is dilapidated.<\/p>\n
\u201cOyo State judiciary has really been neglected. Recently, one of our courts almost collapsed on the judges; no mobility and good infrastructure for lawyers.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven the magistrates don\u2019t have cars and adequate working tools.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo we are using this medium to call on the state government to urgently look into our plights,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
(NAN).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Ibadan branch, says lawyers will boycott the courts if the Pre-Action Protocol Rule, contained in Oyo State High Court Civil Procedure Rule, 2022, is not suspended. Chairman of the association, Mrs Folasade Aladeniyi, issued the threat at a news briefing on Tuesday in Ibadan. Aladeniyi said there was the need for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":48772,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba-news","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t