Some Lagos-based lawyers have commended Chief Bolaji Ayorinde, SAN, former Chairman, of the Legal Aid Council of Nigeria for his letter to the Chief Justice of Nigeria, requesting suspension of the 2021 Annual Vacation for Judges.
Ayorinde had said suspending the vacation would save the nation’s justice system.
The lawyers made their opinions known in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Lagos.
NAN reports that Ayorinde in a four-paged letter made available to news men, cited the #ENDSARS protests, COVID-19 pandemic and the recent JUSUN strike as events that adversely impacted the justice sector.
Ayorinde stated that the suspension would be an opportunity for the Judiciary to make a bold statement to rekindle the hope of the common man, and renew investors’ confidence in Nigeria as an investment destination.
He also stated that such a direction would definitely and substantially clear backlog of cases which had suffered delays, thereby making our courts ‘fit for the purpose’ again.
The letter was entitled: “The need to suspend 2021 Annual Court Vacation”.
Reacting to the letter, Mr Chibuikem Opara, a lawyer with Justification Law Firm, Ikeja, said: “The call for the suspension of the Judges’ vacation is timely.
“I expect the judges themselves to decline any call for vacation and concentrate on how they can reduce accumulated cases.
“In the last one year, the courts have not sat cumulatively up to six months, from the imposed sit at home caused by the pandemic, the ensuing #EndSARS resulting to closure of courts and the JUSUN strike.
“It is obvious that insisting on observing the customary court vacation will not do anybody any good.”
Mr Chris Ayiyi, Principal Partner, Ayiyi Chambers, Apapa agreed with the learned silk’s submission for judges’ vacation to be suspended to save the nation’s justice system.
“I concur with the learned silk’s submission, the reasons are endless.
“There are persons who are languishing in detention, awaiting trial and those whose cases have suffered undue delay due to irrelevant factors,” Ayiyi said.
Mr Bayo Akinlade, Convener, Fight Against Corruption In the Judiciary (FACIJ) said it would be noble of the chief judge and Judges to suspend the annual vacation.
“The calls to jettison vacations were made last year because of COVID -19 but there were negative responses,” he said.
Akinlade, however, said the judiciary actually needed to address core issues surrounding delays in justice delivery system.
According to him, an average high court in Lagos gives between two to 12 weeks adjournment between cases, meaning, in a space of two months a case can be heard three times.
“But you and I know that for Lagos courts, you are more likely to be heard zero times within a space of two months.
“If an average judge in Lagos has between 400 to 800 cases in his docket, your case is likely to be heard between two to three times in one legal year.
“So we have more pressing issues on how to develop our justice delivery system.” (NAN)
