High court judges serving in Nike judicial Division along Enugu- Abakaliki expressway have abandoned the newly inaugurated high court building due to some structural defects. The drumnewsonline gathered that the building which was newly constructed and inaugurated by Governor Peter Mbah early this year is in total disrepair and has shown cracks which suggest its imminent collapse.
Apart from the cracks, this medium also gathered that the roof of the court building is in a terrible state and allows rain water freely each time it rains. Lawyers shuffle for sitting positions during court sessions each time it rains. For example, the witness box and the entire rear court room used by Justice Ajogwu is always soaked in water. The box has a plastic bucket permanently centered there to harvest water each time it rains. The wood work of the box has totally decayed due to the effect of the unrestrained rain water.
Another judge who also sits at the building, Justice Mather Aroh had her personal belongings and court files evacuated from the building last Tuesday suggesting that she would not come back to the facility unless a thorough remedial work is done there. She was said to have moved to the High Court headquarters in Independence layout scouting for space to continue sitting.
Sources at the state judiciary revealed that the standard of work done by contractors used by the state government to construct most of the court buildings in the state was below the acceptable level. A senior staff who spoke to drumnewsonline on condition of anonymity also referred the medium to the new Magistrate Courts blocks at the State Secretariat, GRA, Enugu and said that less than one year of their inauguration, the handrails fitted in the buildings have given way, the floor tiles have broken showing that they were not properly laid. Most of the ceiling boards are off, no electricity connected to them, no fans or airconditioning units etc. “Magistrates now employ their personal rechargeable fans and hand fans to conduct their sittings”, he said. Showing visible anger, he wondered who in the ministry certified the jobs done?
It is not known if the State Chief Judge, Justice A. R. Ozoemena has been briefed on the conditions of the seemingly new court buildings in the state, but a lawyer who simply identified himself as Barr. Ikechukwu, rhetorically asked: “Is he living in the moon, doesn’t he have assistants who brief him on the state of things?
” More so, the Magistrates and the judges should have spoken up on these issues. What of the state leadership of the Nigeria Bar Association, what have they done, have they not been coming to these courts to conduct their matters?”, he queried.
The state governor, Peter Mbah, also a lawyer should come to the aid of the judiciary which incidentally is his primary constituency. Unless these courts are fixed and those who did the shabby jobs are brought to book, the dispensation of justice in the state would be hampered.
Source: Drumnewsonline
