The FCT Customary Court, Dutse, Abuja has appealed to the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) to facilitate the renovation of its court complex which fell victim to vandalism and arson during the 2020 EndSARS protests.
The President of the Court, Aderinto Adesoji, appealed a resumed hearing in a divorce case between a petitioner, Chiwendu Nwadi and her husband, Emeka Nwadi in Ushafa, Abuja.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Customary Court, Dutse has been sharing the court complex of a sister court in Ushafa for its sittings following the destruction of its facilities, four years back.
NAN reports that while the Customary Court, Ushafa, the real owner of the facility, has its sittings on Monday, Wednesday and Friday in a week, the Dutse Court has its sittings on Tuesday and Thursday. NAN further reports that Dutse and Ushafa are communities in the Bwari Area Council of the FCT and they are about 17 kilometres apart.
Addressing lawyers to the parties in the divorce case, when they were finding it difficult to agree on a date for the next hearing in the matter, the President of the court said it is a recurrent challenge in matters before the court.
According to him, the constraint of the panel, sitting only twice a week has grossly affected the quick dispensation of justice. He said most cases before the court involve families, in particular, custody of children which require urgent adjudication, and should not be encumbered.
Adesoji said, that considering the fact that lawyers and their clients are affected by the constraints, the NBA should take steps to ensure that the appropriate authorities renovate the Dutse court complex. He said promises have been made by the association to that effect in the past, but they were yet to be actualised.
Responding to the President’s appeal, Moses Ibe, the lawyer to the petitioner promised the court that he would convey the message to the NBA, Bwari branch for necessary action. Ibe told NAN in an interview after the court session, that the distance of the court to its jurisdiction and the restrictive days of sittings have affected the quick dispensation of justice.
He said the essence of building the Dutse court was to bring justice closer to the people, but it has been defeated by the failure of appropriate authorities to renovate it for use.
The Counsel promised to officially write to the NBA, Bwari branch to convey the Judge’s message and request for intervention. According to Ibe, the Dutse court complex, used to serve as the Secretariat of the NBA Bwari branch, before it was vandalised and set ablaze by the EndSARS protesters.
Meanwhile, the court has adjourned further hearings in the divorce petition until October 21 to enable the respondent to file his reply. Adesoji and other members of the panel, Nana Atipkoru, and Aisha Hamza adjourned the case following the position of the respondent’s lawyer, Cornelius Simon, that his client was not served with the “particular of claims” in the petition.
The panel directed that all necessary processes should be filed and served before the adjourned date so that the case would be fixed for a definite hearing. The panel also ordered that the parties should maintain the status quo, particularly, as regards the custody of the children – the last child is with the petitioner, while the other two are in the custody of the respondent.
In the case, the petitioner is seeking, among others, the dissolution of her 13-year marriage with her husband on the ground that “the union has broken down irretrievably”. She alleged that the husband, “is a man of unimaginable violence and cruelty, fetish, a serial wife beater and adulterer". The petitioner alleged that her husband deliberately poisoned her drink which led to losing her pregnancy.
According to the petitioner, the union, consummated in 2011, under the native law and custom, as well as the exchange of marital vows in a Church, has produced three children, ages, 12 years, 11 years and 2 years.
She urged the court to dissolve the marriage, grant custody of the three children to her and restrain the husband from using thugs or any security agents to harass her.