MOST COVID-19 COURT CASES GOT STRUCK OUT DUE TO LACK OF DILIGENT PROSECUTION

Article by Joke Falaju

Investigations by Citizen’s Gavel, a civic tech organisation, have revealed that the court struck out most COVID-19-related cases due to the state’s lack of diligent prosecution.

The findings revealed that most of the court visits bore little or no fruit, as most of the cases found were either completed or struck out by the court for want of diligent prosecution.

It was stated, ” Visitations to the court were several and consistent. However, some of such visitations bore little fruit, as the cases found have either been completed or struck out due to the lack of diligent prosecution by the state.”

The findings revealed that several courtrooms were visited in each focus state, including the Federal Capital Territory, Niger, Bayelsa, Oyo, Lagos, and Anambra State, which had poor data recording. In contrast, the lawyers and respective court registrars had to search for relevant case(s) manually.

According to the report, the team of lawyers from Citizens Gavel visited some courts in the FCT, including the Kwali High Court, Maitama High Court, Nyanyan High Court, and Federal High Court Headquarters, Abuja. In contrast, the courts visited in Oyo State include Courts 1–12, the High Court of Oyo State, Ring Road Courts 14–23, and the High Court of Oyo State, Iyaganku.

In Lagos State: the team visited Courts 1–25, the High Court of Lagos, Ikeja, and the High Court of Lagos, Badagry, while in Niger State, the High Court of Justice, Suleja, was visited. The team visited the Chief Magistrate Court in Odili and the Chief Magistrate Court in Onitsha in Anambra State.

The High Court of Justice, the Nembe Judicial Division, Yenagoa, and the Chief Magistrate Court, Yenagoa, were visited for Bayelsa State.

The findings revealed that, following a rigorous process of searching for COVID-19-related cases, they identified five cases and tracked them to ensure an open dispensation of justice.

The team from the civic tech organisation tracked a case between Balyesa State Government & Anot and Ingonabo Ikirigo & Anor. V with suit no NHC/2/2021at Nembe High Court, Yenagoa.

The case was filed by the family of a diseased man who was left to die after fear of contracting the dreaded COVID-19 virus due to the unavailability of PPEs at the hospital prevented the doctors from treating the deceased. Thus, he was neglected, and that led to his death.

The family is also suing the state government for withholding the body. Meanwhile, the stage of the case shows that settlement negotiations are ongoing.