ASABA/Nigeria: Incessant adjournments of cases at the instance of some lawyers and lack of requisite experience and competency have been identified as major challenges confronting quick dispensation of justice.
The State Chief Judge, Justice Marshal Umukoro, harped on these anomalies inherent in the justice delivery machinery when he played host to the new executives of Warri and Asaba branches of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, in Asaba.
Expressing reservation on the use of technicalities by lawyers calculated to slow down course of justice when their clients have a bad case, Justice Umukoro challenged leadership of the bar to impress on their members the need to always uphold the principle of justice for the interest of stakeholders in the administration of justice.
The Chief Judge who decried attitude of some who after losing their cases, poison the minds of their clients that the judge had compromised, admonished them to exploit the judicial process of appeal, enjoining such ones to instruct their clients to drop bad case and resort to alternative dispute resolution.
While congratulating the new executives on their elections, he noted that one of the reasons lawyers failed to conclude cases after many years of commencement was due to the fact that they took up briefs which were beyond their experience and competency.
He stressed that nobody was encyclopedia of knowledge except God who was all knowing and advised inexperienced counsel to engage the services of experienced ones who have cut their teeth in the legal profession.
Earlier, the Chairmen of Warri and Asaba branches of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mr Michael Osogu and Freddie Toritseju Eruli-Ede who paid courtesy visits at different times commended the State Chief Judge for the giant strides recorded since he took over the mantle of leadership of the State Judiciary. Worthy of mention, according to them, was the infrastructural transformation, especially provision of befitting sets of furniture in the open courts that made lawyers and litigants to be more relaxed during proceedings and appealed to him to replicate same in all the courts across the state.
In a related development, the State Chief Judge, Justice Marshal Umukoro, has administered oath of office to newly appointed Notaries Public in Asaba.
Justice Umukoro, who is a member of the Legal Practitioners’ Disciplinary Committee, enjoined the new three Notaries Public, Mr Ewere Odiase, Otemu Believe Oyeghe and Stewart Onyerhovwo Ogedegbe to uphold the ethical standards of the law profession by refraining from incessant adjournments through frivolous applications.
