The member representing Igboeze South Constituency in the Enugu State House of Assembly, Harrison Ogara, said on Tuesday that high courts in Enugu North Senatorial zone have not sat in the past three years, stressing there was a total collapse of justice administration in the area.

Ogara told Journalists that high courts in Oboloafor, Nsukka, Ogbede, and Oba have been “abandoned and overgrown with weeds” due to a lack of Judges.

The lawmaker further stated that his efforts to save the situation, including an attempt to present a motion to that effect, could not see the light of day.

“Enugu judiciary has killed justice in Enugu North Senatorial zone. They have just maybe unknowingly grounded justice to a halt. For the past three or four years, only one High Court has been sitting in Nsukka.

“That court is being presided over by Hon. Justice Alukwu, but as I speak with you, the judge has been transferred out of Nsukka.

“The NBA Nsukka and Obollo-Afor chapters have separately written petitions asking that judges should begin to assume their courts in Enugu North Senatorial zone, but their protests have fallen on deaf ears.

“Now, if you go to Obollo-Afor, if you know anyone there, ask the person to kindly take a snapshot of what the High Court looks like.

“The windows have been vandalised. In fact, it’s already in the bush.

“Enugu-Ezike High Court has been under lock and key for about three years now. Then all the High Courts in Nsukka, now that they have posted Alukwu out, are under lock and key. No High Court sits.”

Ogara lamented his futility in calling attention to the development through a motion in the state Assembly.
“I wanted to make a motion at the State Assembly, but the motion was suppressed, and I could not move it. I don’t know why that motion was killed,” Ogara said.

He said judges who were approached over the situation disclosed that they were not ready to risk their lives, considering the level of kidnappings on Enugu-Ugwuogo-Opi-Nsukka Road.

According to him, “When you ask judges why, they will tell you that they cannot risk the level of insecurity between Ugwuogo-Nike and Opi.

“So you begin to imagine the seriousness of what they are saying. No judge would want to be kidnapped.

“And the kidnappers are so audacious, assuming you have one policeman attached to you, they will just make a nonsense of him. And so, what they have resolved is to begin to relocate to Enugu metropolis, where there’s safety.

“Inside my motion, which I would have moved, I made a suggestion that the reason these judges are exposed to insecurity is that they don’t have Judges’ quarters in Nsukka zone.

“The more frequently you ply that road, the more chances of being kidnapped and so you also see reason with what they are saying.

“What are the implications of this? When lawyers or litigants have 30 witnesses, they will now charter buses to Enugu and woe betide you when, after chartering buses for your witnesses, the court does not sit. Then you face the charges for taking them back.

“This has been happening over the years, and people are frustrated in getting justice.

“Now the judge said, okay, let’s begin to do virtual sitting. You can imagine bringing an old man to be on the witness box virtually. Where would the interpreter be? In fact, all the standards of a perfect Court sitting are thrown into the dustbin”

He continued: “Apart from the fact that it’s too cumbersome, with the epileptic nature of services by network providers, most times, the judges get frustrated, and the court sitting is called off, and that’s the end of the day. Because there’s no network, you can’t take a day off for the next sitting.

“Enugu North is at the wrong side of the state in terms of justice dispensation. The state government and the judiciary have to wake up.

“There should be accommodation for judges with immediate effect so that when that person with his family goes to Nsukka, he or she stays there for at least two weeks before travelling.”

He stated that magistrate courts sit because most magistrates live in the area.