Lagos Judges Groan Under Fatigue

In the Lagos State Judiciary, court congestion and unending
adjournments have continually make justice seekers suffer in a
stale system, reports Funke Busari

Court! The voice of the male registrar pealed through the Sexual
Violence Court to announce the arrival of Her Lordship, Justice
Sybil Nwaka on June 25, 2019. Time was 11:16 a.m.

The High Court Rules of Lagos State provides that sitting at the
court should start officially at 9 a.m. and end by 4 p.m. On this
day however, sitting ended about 2:08 p.m.

After about four hours sitting, Justice Nwaka was able to
entertain only three matters out of 26 cases slated for the day.
She also delivered two rulings not listed in the cause list or on
the court’s website at www.lagosjudiciary.gov.ng/portal^[1] for the
week of June 24-28, 2019.

Isiaka Oladele, scheduled to be arraigned before Justice Nwaka
on that day, was not lucky. His case was adjourned to October 2,
2019. By implication, Oladele will have to spend another four
months in remand. By this date, it is expected that more cases
would have piled up in Nwaka’s docket.

Not that Justice Nwaka is oblivious of the anguish and
frustration that litigants go through, but according to her, she
had to rise before official sitting hours to attend a maiden
meeting with the new Chief Judge of the State, Justice Kazeem
Alogba alongside other justices.

By her action, the fate of Oladele, who was not accompanied by a
legal counsel on this day, and that of other justice seekers whose
matters were not heard would have to wait in the wings until after
all the justices come back from the annual court recess which began
in July.

Legal proceedings on June 26 were not in any way different from
the previous day. On June 25, 27 matters were slated for hearing
same day, including one earlier adjourned to June 28.

But proceedings did not begin in the court until 11:20 a.m.
Justice Nwaka rose three hours later. Time was 2:07 p.m. after
hearing the bail application of a defendant, Adenekan Adegboyega
who was standing trial for defilement of a child in suit number
LD/5013C/17.

Justice Nwaka didn’t show up on June 27 and no reason was
offered.

This reporter later found out that most of the judges did not
sit as well because they were attending a valedictory service in
honour of former Chief Judge of the state, Justice Opeyemi
Olufunmilayo Oke, who just retired. Consequently, 22 suits on the
cause list, expected to be handled by Justice Nwaka, for the day
got new dates for attention, and remain in the docket still.

No matter was slated for hearing on Friday, June 28, according
to the week’s cause list. However, argument for the bail of a
certain Adenekan was adjourned for that day, and ruling was
adjourned to July 3.

In all, a total of 105 cases, plus another five add-ons as a
result of contingencies, were slated for hearing for the week,
making a total of 110 cases, out of which 10 cases were entertained
by Justice Nwaka. That’s less than 10 percent of the entire cases
in the docket for the week.

Yet on average, the judge is assigned 22 cases daily. And in a
month, charges begging for her attention would be in excess of 400
cases.

That is happening in the Lagos State Judiciary where government
cited the need for speedy hearing and dispensation of justice as
reasons for establishing the Special and Sexual Violence Courts in
February 2018.

Recognising the magnitude of the social and economic cost of
domestic and sexual violence, the state government pioneered the
Lagos State DSVRT in 2014, and later the Special and Sexual
Violence Courts to deal mainly with matters bothering on domestic
violence and sexual assaults separate from the normal courts.

Sad reality
In 2018, Justice Kazeem Alogba chaired a committee to review the
Civil Procedure Rules 2012, then as an Administrative Judge. In one
of the briefings by the committee to intimate the bar and bench of
their activities, he painted a pitiable picture of the plight and
sight of his colleagues.

“Sometimes in my humble position as an Administrative Judge, it
pains me a lot because at a time, you could give one judge 50 files
and within the week more cases are filed; you’d still send more
files to that judge. What miracle do you expect a judge to perform
in such circumstances?”

A year after Alogba’s lamentations, the Lagos Judiciary is still
reeling under the burden of overflowing dockets and tell-tale signs
of fatigue on the judges.

According to Titilola Vivour-Adeniyi, Coordinator of the
Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Team (DSVRT) in Lagos State,
Justice Nwaka currently has over 600 cases gathering dust in her
docket for 2018 alone.

The workload is the same for the other judge in the Lagos State
Sexual Violence Court. Further checks at the court registry show
that Justice Abiola Soladoye, has matters in excess of 350 pending
before her for 2018 too.

“These courts are congested, and the judges overwhelmed,’ the
DSVRT Coordinator lamented to the reporter.

Justices Mojisola Dada and Oluwatoyin Taiwo, both of the Special
Offences Courts, are heavily ladened too. At the inauguration of
the Special and Sexual Violence Courts in 2018, former Chief Judge
of Lagos State, Justice Opeyemi Olufunmilayo Oke revealed that no
less than 500 matters bothering on economic and financial crimes
begging for the attention of the court were assigned to both
judges. In effect, both women had 250 matters each in their dockets
at the start of operations in the economic and financial crimes
court (Special Offences Courts.)

“Presently, there are over 500 cases of financial crimes pending
before the High Court, the bulk of which have now been assigned to
the Special Offences Courts.

“We are enthusiastic about the designation of the new courts as
we see the development as a step in the right direction.”

This was the plan, but the reality that later dawned on the
special courts after one year of existence speaks to same
challenge.

By the end of 2018, Kayode Oyekanmi, Public Affairs Officer at
the Lagos State Ministry of Justice, told this reporter that the
Directorate of Public Prosecution had added additional 407 matters
to the already overflowing dockets at the Special and Sexual
Offences Court. As at July this year too, the DPP has filed another
273 cases already, increasing the number to 680, with likelihood of
an increase before the end of the year.

How delay affects the system
The backlash of the rising numbers of case files inundating the
four justices at the special courts are the sustained frustration
and several adjournments that many trials suffer before they get to
be concluded. By implication, the adjournments culminate in
swelling population in the prisons because of defendants who have
to remain in custody until their matters are entertained.
“You see, the justice system has been circumvented by such undue
delay in the administration of justice,’ Barrister Kayode Bankole
lamented, saying ‘and those who infringed on the right of the
aggrieved take solace in the snail speed that bedeviled and
underpins our justice system.

“It affects justice system in that it makes the citizens to lose
confidence in the judicial process and it also encourages the
oppressors to continue to do what they are doing, people who thrive
in impunity, it encourages them to continue because they know that
at the end of the day justice will be denied by way of justice
delayed,” the Lagos lawyer explained.

Loophole in Lagos criminal law
However, one of the major factors responsible for the perceived
lapses on the part of judges lies with the framing of the Criminal
Law of Lagos State 2015. The law is silent about the maximum limit
of adjournment in any particular criminal cause. Quite unlike the
Administration of Criminal Justice Act, ACJA 2015, which set out to
ensure speedy trials.

Section 396 of the ACJA, for instance, provides for day-to-day
trial for criminal cases or where this is not possible, the number
of adjournments is limited to five each and the intervals between
each adjournment is not to exceed 14 days, and where the trial has
not been concluded then the court may award cost on any other
frivolous application for adjournment as the case may be.

The reason behind this provision is obvious; parties to a
criminal proceeding are left with no other option than to execute
their duties expeditiously in order to obtain the best favourable
results for their clients.

Like Lagos courts, like Supreme Court
Even at that, this crucial Section of the ACJA 2015 appears to be
effective only on paper. At the Supreme Court where the ACJA is
expected to be fully deployed, litigants are already taking dates
beyond 2019 as possible time for their matters to come up, this
reporter found out.

As early as February this year, counsel have started taking 2020
dates.

“Let me tell you, at the Supreme Court as at today, we have
started taking year 2021 dates, not 2020, Bankole disclosed.

“So if you file a case today in the Supreme Court, you cannot
get a date this year again, it will be hard. It has to be 2020 or
towards the end of 2021.”

The reason for that is not too far to seek. The apex court is
also groaning under heavy workload. And unfortunately, it is the
same number of Justices the constitution provided for when Nigeria
was just 100 million people around 1979 that are still there today
when national population has snowballed to 201 million.

Section 230 of the 1999 constitution provides for a maximum of
21 justices, including the Chief Justice of Nigeria, to be in the
Supreme Court at any point in time. But as at 2019, only the Chief
Justice of Nigeria and 14 other Associate Justices are on the bench
of the Supreme Court. Invariably the court is running on a six-man
deficit.

Back in Lagos, the experience of Christian C. Erondu in Suit No:
ID/692/2006 is emblematic of the grave consequence of the delay and
denials that Bankole is griping about. The matter took 13 years to
be heard before Justice A.O Opesanwo at the Lagos High court.

And even after getting judgment, Monday Ubani, Counsel to the
plaintiff told this reporter, the delays are far from over.

“The defendant is trying out to use the process of appeal to
delay further the case. Knowing fully well that if the matter goes
on appeal, it will take another average of seven years or
thereabouts.

“And maybe if it goes to Supreme Court, it may take another 10
years. Maybe it will take an average of 20 or 30 years for a matter
to be resolve, so you can see the danger.
“The danger is that, some people die waiting for justice, in fact
in this case that I told you about, the defendant died. And he was
the one using all manner of tactics to delay the matter knowing
fully well that he is in possession of the properties.”

The Devil’s Advocates?
Part of the problems identified by the Justice Alogba-led committee
on the review of Civil Procedures rule in 2018 is the antics most
lawyers deploy to delay or scuttle trials.
That’s done in part through asking for frivolous adjournments, or
not showing up in court on appointed dates, the reporter found
out.

This reporter also found out that when lawyers are not asking
for adjournments or playing the truants, they make the job of the
judge more difficult using lengthy written addresses.

“Most of these judges came in very beautiful and handsome but
after five years, they’d become enemies of the barbing salon
because of your voluminous written addresses,’ the judge
groaned.

As such, the Lagos judiciary has set a limit for all written
addresses to be no more than 20 pages, and reply on point-of-law to
five pages.

Lawyers who scuttle trial dates at will too, will also pay a
fine of N100, 000 to serve as disincentive.

The rules are severe though, but Bankole does not think the hash
laws are necessary.

“It is not making the rules to be harsh that will solve the
problems but rather it is when the system works properly. When the
right persons are called to the Bar, the right persons are called
to the Bench and the system is well funded and above all the right
attitude. It is then we are going to have justice or resemblance of
justice.”

Same old structure
At the moment, there are just 59 judges and 120 magistrates
staffing the courts in Lagos. That is less than 200 judicial staff
in a state of no less than 20 million residents, and still
counting.

As the population burgeons, business transactions are expanding,
relationships are also being cultivated, thus making infringements
inevitable.

But the Lagos courts remain the same old institutions—manned by
stenographers who listen to court proceedings and type away on
their computers. Judges and magistrates also shuttle between
listening to counsels and taking notes in the usual long hand.

“We need to equip our judicial system with basic infrastructure.
It is high time we left the long-hand process we are using in
taking notes of proceedings. We should employ technology in the
administration of justice. We see how other nations are not taking
proceedings in long-hand, rather it is being recorded
electronically after which they review and do the right thing,’
Monday Ubani, 2nd Vice-President of the Nigerian Bar Association,
NBA, told the reporter.

“Funding is also an issue. If we employ more judges, that means
you have to pay more money, you also have to equip the court system
and we must also amend some of our rules to accommodate speedy
dispensation of justice.”

Ubani’s recommendations are apt. But they will work more if the
state government also considers a swift appointment of more judges
in the Lagos judiciary, in addition to expanding its judicial
divisions from the current five.

Culled from independent