By Nicholas Obisike
Gov. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State has sworn in six new Judges, saying the move was to enhance speedy justice delivery in the state.

Swearing in the new judges, Ugwuanyi decried the difficulties being experienced because of dearth of Judges in the state.

He pointed out that the appointment of the new Judges was a timely relief to the Enugu State Judiciary and the people of the state.

Ugwuanyi congratulated the new Judges on their well-deserved appointments and charged them to bring their expertise to bear on the discharge of their new responsibilities.

He explained that the action is sequel to his approval of the recommendations of the National Judicial Council (NJC), in compliance with Section 271 sub-section 2 and Section 281 sub-section 2 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The Chief Judge of Enugu State, Justice Priscilla Emehelu, thanked Ugwuanyi for his administration’s commitment in the provision of critical infrastructure for the State Judiciary.

Emehelu stated that prior to the inception of Ugwuanyi’s administration, it has not been possible for the Judiciary of Enugu State to get even one slot for appointment.

She described the swearing-in of the new Judges as historic and stressed that it was remarkable to note that the State Judiciary under the present administration, from 2016 to date, has produced 15 Judges.

Emehelu thanked Ugwuanyi for making the feat possible, stressing that it could not have been possible if not for his administration’s massive infrastructural interventions in the State Judiciary.

According to her, a committee of the NJC came and inspected what we had on the ground and having been satisfied, gave us the green light which culminated in the appointment of the judges.

Responding on behalf of other newly sworn-in Judges, Justice Nkeiru Aroh-Onuoha, thanked God and the governor for the elevation.

She commended the governor for his administration’s unprecedented interventions in the Judiciary.

Aroh-Onuoha also appreciated the State Chief Judge for her motivation and support, as well as other officials who contributed towards their accomplishment.

The Judges sworn in were Justices Nkiru Aroh-Onuoha, Paul Ugwueze, Hyacinthia Ezugwu, Juliet Mogboh, Paulinus Anike as High Court judges.

Justice Richard Ogbodo was sworn-in as a Judge of the Customary Court of Appeal of the state.

By Wandoo Sombo

University of Ibadan clears Obaseki of certificate forgery allegation

Gov. Godwin Obaseki of Edo opened his defence on certificate forgery allegations on Tuesday at the Federal High Court Abuja, calling two witnesses.

One of the witnesses was the Deputy Registrar, Legal, University of Ibadan, Mr Abayomi Ajayi.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) had instituted a case against the governor in court doubting the authenticity of the certificate obtained from the University of Ibadan.

But Ajayi told the court that the fact that some parts of Obaseki’s original degree certificate were missing in the photocopy he attached to his INEC form EC9 and 001 did not amount to forgery.

The witness, who was led in evidence by Mr Ken Mozia (SAN), Obaseki’s counsel, explained that Obaseki’s photocopy was incomplete due to the process of photocopying.

The witness also told the court that the university was not dealing with this allegation for the first time as the Minister of State for Education had once brought the issue before the institution.

He maintained that from the records of the university, Obaseki was admitted as a student in 1976 through direct entry and that he graduated in the year 1979, during the tenure of Prof. Tekena Tamino as Vice Chancellor and S.J Okufu as Registrar.

“I will not regard the photocopy of the original certificate as forged but incomplete photocopying because the certificate of the University of Ibadan is larger than the paper upon which the photocopy was made,”  Ajayi submitted.

He then went ahead to tender photocopies of various sizes of papers and their outcome when the original was not reduced.

Other documents he tendered to prove that Obaseki was a product of the university included relevant pages of the congregation for admission to degrees, award of diplomas and certificates and 31st Foundation Day Ceremony in September 1979, Obaseki’s application amongst others.

The authorities of the University of Ibadan had in June last year, before a Federal High Court in Benin, cleared Obaseki of similar forgery allegations.

The institution said that Obaseki graduated from there and was accordingly awarded the degree certificate of Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Classical Studies in 1979.

Earlier, the first defense witness, Mr Charity Aguobawekhina, Chairman of the Edo State Law Reform Commission, tendered the original of Obaseki’s certificates, including the disputed BA Arts Degree in Classical Studies.

The witness who claimed to be a close associate of Obaseki, informed the court that he made the said incomplete photocopy that Obaseki attached to his nomination form that he submitted to INEC.

He added that part of the photocopy attached to form EC9 were cut off because of the largeness of the original certificate.

Other documents were the University of Ibadan degree certificate obtained in 1979 and another Masters Degree certificate from Pace University obtained by Obaseki as his educational qualification.

All the certificates, which were original copies, were admitted as exhibits by the trial judge.

Under cross examination, the witness insisted that the photocopy of the degree certificate, which had the signature of the university’s chief registrar, the date of issuance of the certificate and the name of the vice chancellor did not make the photocopy of the certificate a forged document.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) and one of its chieftains, Mr Williams Edobor, dragged Obaseki to court for allegedly forging his university certificate he submitted to INEC to aid his qualification for the Sept. 19, 2020 governorship election in Edo.

The plaintiffs wanted the court to disqualify Obaseki,  who won the election, in the event that he was found to have forged his university degree obtained from the university of Ibadan in 1979. (NAN)

By Christian Njoku

Magistrate Richard Bassey on Tuesday collapsed at the gate of the governor’s office in Calabar, Cross River, during a protest over unpaid 24 months salary.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that 30 Magistrates dressed in their full regalia embarked on a peaceful protest on Monday.

They appealed to Gov. Ben Ayade to pay the salaries owed them.

NAN reports that the incident happened on the second day of the protest.

NAN also reports that Bassey was revived when his colleagues poured water on him and took him to a nearby hospital.

Speaking to newsmen after the incident, the Chief Magistrate of Cross River, Solomon Abuo decried what he described as ill treatment meted to them by the state government.

Abuo said since they were employed, they had undergone several screening, adding that the protest was their last resort.

”We will continue to protest until we are paid.

“This is very embarrassing, in 2020 one of the Magistrates was arraigned before a fellow Magistrate over his inability to pay rent; most of us can’t pay our house rents and are squatting with colleagues.

“Is it wrong for one to serve the state as a judicial officers, are we supposed to go through this kind of humiliation,” he asked.

No official of the state government addressed the protesters since the protest began on Monday.

Justice Eyo Effiom-Ita, Acting Chief Judge of the state, told NAN that he was aware that the Magistrates had not been paid for a long time.

Effiom-Ita said different presentations had been made to the governor.

“The governor said he did not give clearance for their appointment, so, he will not pay them; until the governor changes his disposition, there is nothing anyone can do,” he said. (NAN)

By Olawale Akinremi

An Ile-Tuntun Customary Court in Ibadan, on Tuesday dissolved a four -year-old marriage between Abosede Adesonwo and husband, Wasiu over drunkenness and threat to life.

Delivering judgment, President of the Court, Chief Henry Agbaje said that the  court dissolved the marriage in the interest of peace and tranquility.

Agbaje awarded custody of the only child to Adesonwo and ordered Wasiu to pay N5,000 as the child’s monthly feeding allowance.

Earlier, Wasiu, a baker, alleged that his wife was an unrepentant drunk.

”She feeds our three and a half-year-old daughter beer . I never knew that she was a drunk before I exchanged marital vows with her.

”She showed me and has shown her true colour,” she said.

Adesonwo, a trader said that she made up her mind to call it quits because he beats her.

”My marriage has become uninteresting and meaningless. He also threatened to kill me,” she told the court. (NAN)

By Wandoo Sombo

A Wuse Zone II Magistrates’ Court, Abuja on Monday, ordered that Omoyele Sowore, the publisher of Sahara Reporters and four others be remanded in Kuje Correctional Centre pending hearing of their bail application.

Chief Magistrate Marble Segun- Bello made the remand order shortly after the defendants were arraigned before her for allegedly embarking on a protest over 2021 crossover celebration.

The Federal Government arraigned Sowore and the others on three-count charges of criminal conspiracy, unlawful assembly, and attempting to incite others.

Sowore and the others were arrested by the Special Weapons Tactical Team in Abuja while protesting on New Year’s eve.

According to the prosecution, the defendants were seen carrying placards calling for a violent revolution.

They all pleaded not guilty to the three count charges.

Following their not guilty plea, prosecuting counsel prayed the court for their remand at the Kuje Correctional Center as investigations into the charges were ongoing.

However, the defendants’ counsel, Mr Marshal Abubakar, attempted to make an oral application for their bail, urging the court to grant them bail on self recognizance.

Segun- Bello, however, ordered that the defendants file a formal bail application and adjourned the matter untill Jan. 5 to hear the bail application.

She ordered that the defendants be remanded in Kuje Correctional Center pending the determination of their bail applications.(NAN)

By Aisha Gambo

A Shari’a Court sitting at Rigasa, Kaduna, on Monday ordered one Bilkisu Abdullahi, a nursing mother,  to breastfeed her two-month- old daughter for 20 months in order to stave off the return of dowry she collected from her estranged husband.

The Judge, Malam Salisu Abubakar-Tureta, made the ruling after Bilkisu prayed the court to dissolve her marriage to Abdullahi Adamu through Khul’I,  otherwise known as redemption.

Khul’i is a form of divorce where a wife returns the dowry she collected from the husband.

The complainant, who was represented by her counsel Sagir Salisu, told the court that she received N80,000 as dowry from the defendant but wants to breastfeed their daughter for 20 months in place of that money.

The defendant was not in court and did not send any representative or letter to state the reasons for his absence after being served personally.

The judge said that the court would proceed with the hearing in accordance with Order 9, Rule 3 of the Shari’a Civil Procedure Rules.

“I hereby dissolve the union between Abdullahi Adamu and Bilkisu Adamu through Khul’I and she will breastfeed her daughter for 20 months.

“Anyone who is not okay with the ruling can appeal to the Upper Shari’a Court within 30 days“, the judge ruled. (NAN)

Virtual court proceedings child of necessity

By Chinyere Omeire

Global pandemic, Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), and its attendant restrictions have resulted in some new ways of doing things as governments, organisations, groups and even individuals struggle to survive.

In Nigeria’s judiciary, lockdowns following  outbreak of the pandemic on Feb. 27, 2020, crippled justice administration as court activities nationwide were halted in an effort to curb the spread.

Many lawyers and litigants, thus, decried  delay in accessing justice.

Thinking out the box, the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Tanko Muhammad, gave a directive to heads of courts at federal and state levels to adopt virtual court sittings to ameliorate the difficulty in justice dispensation.

The directive was, however, challenged by the attorney-general of Lagos State at the Supreme Court.

The attorney-general prayed the apex court to determine whether, having regard to Sections 36(1), (3) and (4) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), the use of technology for remote hearings of any kind by the Lagos State High Court or any other courts in Nigeria in aid of hearing and determination of cases, were constitutional.

In July, the Supreme Court struck out the suit as a team of justices led by Olabode Rhodes-Vivour held that virtual court sitting was not unconstitutional.

The CJN and chief judges of states consequently  issued practice directions, allowing virtual court sittings mostly on the consent of parties involved in the suits.

This child of necessity – virtual court proceedings – enabled some courts to do peripheral activities while others could not, due to lack of capacity to adapt to the procedure.

Many lawyers have hailed judicial authorities for the virtual court system, describing it as a child of necessity.

According to them, the lockdown experience exposed inadequacies in the country’s judicial system and showed the need to embrace technological solutions and interventions.

Mr Osuala Nwagbara, the Managing Partner of Maritime and Commercial Law Partners, Apapa, Lagos, believes that a technological-driven judicial system will facilitate justice delivery.

Nwagbara says that Nigerian lawyers have been yearning for an automated system of filing processes in courts.

Nwagbara adds that the lawyers also yearn for adjudication of some matters online.

He argues that the constitutionality of virtual court proceedings is influenced more by the exigencies of the moment.

He says  virtual court procedure is not unconstitutional since the 1999 Constitution provides for an aggrieved persons to ventilate their rights through the courts and for accused persons to be given facilities to defend themselves.

According to the lawyer, virtual court hearing is a procedural way to ventilate such rights.

He insists that the procedure does not rob anyone of the right to be heard.

“On the contrary, not to devise safe court proceedings will amount to shutting people out of their rights to ventilate their grievances or defend themselves,” Nwagbara argues.

He is convinced that virtual court system does not make a complainant a judge in his own cause but follows the age-long tradition that an unbiased and independent umpire, a judge, sits and resolves disputes or complaints.

Mr Chibuikem Opara of the Justification Law firm, Ikeja,  also argues that the Supreme Court’s judgment was influenced more by the exigencies of the moment than the Constitution.

He suggests that laws should be applied  liberally while rigidity and harsh interpretations that may  result in hardship should be avoided.

Opara calls for amendment of the Constitution to expressly embody the Supreme Court’s decision.

Mr Chris Ayiyi, Principal Partner, Ayiyi Chambers, Apapa, Lagos, also says the court judgement was necessitated by the situation at hand.

He argues, however, that the cost effectiveness of the virtual court sitting was not considered.

Ayiyi believes  that the apex court should have considered the cost of virtual proceedings on ordinary people.

Mediation advocacy experts including  the Messrs Valentino Buoro and Adeyemi Akisanya, are  of the opinion that certain matters be should be referred to mediation for peaceful and amicable resolution through  multi-door courthouses.

They note that  COVID-19-induced lockdown  was unanticipated and suddenly disrupted routines.

According to Buoro, online mediation seeks to ease the imbalances.

He advises parties in suits to embrace Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) and resolve most of their cases through mediation or any other ADR process.

Akinsanya notes that ADR does not require bulk documentation like litigation.

“It is faster and consensual,” he argues.

Analysts believe that  administration of justice in Nigeria requires more intervention and more infrastructure to  global trends.