Delta NBA begs Okowa to provide vehicles for screened NJC officials

The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has appealed to Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa to immediately provide official vehicles to the National Judicial Council (NJC) so that the already screened and approved officers can be appointed and sworn in.

The state’s body of benchers claimed the provision of the vehicles will ease the pain and suffering of legal practitioners and litigants as they prepare for another round of nominations as soon as possible.

The plea was the culmination of the monthly general meeting of the body of its Warri branch, in a statement signed by the chairman and secretary, Chief Oghenero Okoro and SG Ediagbonuvie respectively.

Among other things, the lawyers also denounced the dilapidated state of the judicial infrastructure in the state and urged the next governor to take radical steps to reverse the ugly trend.

The statement reads in part:

“Recently, the National Judicial Council approved the appointments of nine (9) additional justices to the Federal Supreme Court and eighty-six (86) others to various state Supreme Courts across the country.

“Unfortunately, our dear State Delta is not one of the states for which the National Judicial Council has appointed judges.

“This is despite the fact that we have a very acute shortage of judges in the Delta State High Court and the fact that the National Judicial Council recently screened and approved five individuals for appointment as judges of the High Court of Delta State.

“Investigations by the Branch indicate that the reason the five screened and approved were not assigned among the 86 others from other states is because Delta State Governor Senator Ifeanyi Okowa failed, refused and/or failed to provide official vehicles. of the judges to be appointed, which is a sina qua non for the said appointment and thus truncated the appointment.

“In other words, the appointment of justices for Delta State this time was frustrated and cut short by Governor Okowa’s failure, refusal and/or negligence to provide the official vehicles necessary for this appointment, which is very sad.

“This incident is all the more painful given the acute shortage of judges in Delta State. Currently, many of the High Courts in the state do not have presiding judges, resulting in the few judges we are constantly overworked.

“In fact, the need to have more judges appointed in our state is now an emergency and Governor Okowa’s failure to do the necessary while we have an opportunity this time to have some judges appointed is not only a gross negligence of duty , but a testament to the continued shabby treatment and contempt of the judiciary as an arm of government in Delta State by successive state governments.

“The Warri High Court building which was deliberately demolished by the state government since 2008, under the guise of constructing a better building, has remained an overconfidence of rubble despite repeated agitations from our department.

“As a result, the Warri High Court has been squatted into makeshift buildings which are not befitting a Magistrate Court.

“It is very painful that the Delta State government is shameless and disgraceful about the state of its judicial infrastructure.

“Most of our courts do not have power plants and judges sit in small, crowded and cramped courtrooms with many of our judges carrying handheld fans when there is no power from the power distribution company.

“Our judge’s official vehicles may be the worst in the entire country. While local government presidents, members of the House of Representatives, commissioners and political aides to the governor who drive around in droves and thousands in the latest Toyota Land Cruisers and Prado Jeeps, our judges have been sentenced to Kia Mohaha and Hyundai Tuscon that have not even been replaced, even when their condition as well as their age and functionality embarrasses the status of a judge.

“We won’t even talk about their filthy rooms that they have to furnish at their own expense to make it manageable. We won’t talk about the Delta State magistrates’ case either. Their business is just pathetic.

“Therefore, we hereby call on Governor Okowa to urgently make the said official vehicles available to the National Judicial Council not tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, but today, so that those persons who have already been screened and approved by the National Judicial Council are immediately appointed and sworn in to ease the pain and suffering of lawyers and litigants while preparations are made for another round of nominations as soon as possible.

“We also hope that whoever takes over from Governor Okowa will take radical and surgical steps to rebuild the dilapidated judicial infrastructure in the state. We cannot continue like this.”

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