Senior lawyers canvass establishment of constitutional courts

The Body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria on Thursday reopened its earlier call for a separate court to handle political cases, particularly pre –election and post -elections matters to give normal courts ample time to decongest the overcrowded workload of courts in the country.

Doyen of Body of Senior Advocates, Chief Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN) reiterated the call on Thursday at a valedictory session held in honour of retired Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Adamu Abdu Kafarati.

He regretted that the earlier proposal for the creation of a separate court was struck down due to lack of foresight.

He explained that if established, the constitutional court will effectively handle all pre -election and post -election cases so that other courts would have enough time to adjudicate in civil and criminal cases that are presently not receiving due attention.

Awomolo (SAN) insisted that the establishment of the constitutional courts must be revisited and reintegrated into the constitution of the country in compliance with Section 250.

According to him, all political matters, including pre –election and post -election matters and election petitions will effectively be handled by the court, while all appeals from the court will terminate at the Court of Appeal.

He further suggested that each state of the federation shall have her own Court of Appeal and that only constitutional matters will go to the Supreme Court.

Awomolo said that the revelation by the Federal High Court that over 16, 000 cases were carried over from 2018 to 2019 legal year with many of the cases filed over four years ago, is not healthy, adding that the trend must not be allowed any longer because justice delayed is justice denied.

“Decongestion in all the courts has become a great burden, a source of concern and embarrassment. In the Supreme Court, only political cases are being heard on daily basis.

“Indeed, every day, on the course list of the Supreme Court, there are about 12 to 15 cases for hearing. The Court of Appeal in all the divisions is daily pre-occupied with pre-election and post -election cases.

“Most high courts are occupied with political cases and most judicial officers from the high court to the Supreme Court have forgone this year’s long vacation due to heavy work load of political cases,” the senior lawyer submitted.

He said that the consequences of these are that cases of thousands of litigants with civil and criminal matters are being delayed and justice denied them due to delays in their matters.

The body of senior lawyers also canvassed that the Code of Conduct Tribunal which has been elevated to a criminal court must be seen as a judicial body as a result of the enormous powers invested in the tribunal, adding that it must be made a part of the court under Section 6 (5) of the constitution and that any person to be appointed must be certified fit and prosper in every sense of it.

Awomolo then called on the bar and the bench to push for constitutional amendments to back up the establishment of the suggested constitutional courts.

In his speech, the acting Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice John Tsoho applauded the contributions of his immediate predecessor for the enactment of the Federal High Court Civil Procedure Rules 2019, adding that the new rules introduced a great a remarkable departure from the old rules and also constituting anti corruption unit in the court to avoid corruption.

In his speech, the retired Chief Judge Justice Kafarati, who initiated the Federal High Court Alternative Dispute Resolution Rules and new court rules thanked his colleagues for making his tenure as head of the court a success.

The occasion was attended by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad, who was Justice Kafarati’s class mate, other senior lawyers and traditional rulers.