Obiano inaugurates Court of Appeal in Anambra
A new Divisional Court of Appeal has been inaugurated in Anambra State, making it the 18th in the nation. The milestone achievement is coming after 29 years of its creation as a state, which would provide easy and timely access to people in Anambra and environs.
Commissioning the new Court of Appeal complex at Court Road, Awka, Governor Willie Obiano, said it was consistent with his administration’s efforts to give the Judiciary a pride of place in the state and to bring justice closer to Ndi Anambra.
Gov Willie Obiano noted that the establishment of the Court of Appeal, it would reduce the risk faced by lawyers and litigants who had been condemned to travelling to and from Enugu, in search of justice.
The Governor disclosed that 70 percent of the cases at the Court of Appeal in Enugu emanated from Anambra, adding that the cases would be transfered to Anambra for easy dispensation of justice.
He said: “The importance of this day could easily be seen in the imperatives of justice to a society that desires growth, freedom and democracy.
“Indeed, no progressive society can experience rapid growth without the stabilizing presence of robust institutions of which the Judiciary is one.
“Therefore, as our beloved state expands to accommodate the growth in our democratic culture, in the economy and in social life generally, it becomes important that we establish the organs that will help to keep the society on its toes”.
The President, Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, said the Nigerian Judiciary acknowledged the enormous need to bring justice closer to the people, hence the continuous creation of more divisions to ensure faster justice delivery.
She commended the determination of Governor Willie Obiano in making the project a reality.
On his part, the Acting Chief Judge of Anambra State, Justice Onochie Anyachebelu maintained that the establishment of the Court of Appeal in Anambra State would bring relief to the teeming litigants in the state and their learned Counsel.
Anyachebelu noted that prior to this date, people travel to Enugu to have their appeal held.
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He said: “Going by statistics the cases and the guiding principle of bringing Justice nearer to the people, I think Anambra state deserves a division of the court of Appeal.
“I am aware that the honourable President of the Court of Appeal has posted a panel of three distinguished Nobel Lords of the Court of Appeal to kick-start the onerous judicial work in the Awka Division.
“It is good for a start, but I know that based on volume of cases waiting for attention of the Awka division, two panels of five justices are needed to truly deal with the work of the Court of Appeal in Anambra State”.
