Constitution Amendment: Former Bayelsa AG Proposes 4 Years for Determination of Court Cases

*Seeks establishment of electoral courts, electronic recording of proceedings

By Alex Enumah

A former Attorney General of Bayelsa State, Mr Kemasuode Wodu, has proposed a time limit of four years for the resolution of court cases from the court of first instance up to the Supreme Court.

Wodu stressed that until the law is amended in such a way that delay in the dispensation of justice is completely eradicate from the nation’s justice system, real development and progress will continue to elude the country.

He said, when people’s rights and dispute are not resolved expeditiously, they usually resort to self help, adding that the concept of ‘might is right’ and ‘survival of the fittest’ become the order of the day.

Speaking to a cross section of Judiciary Correspondent in Abuja, Wodu who noted that all Nigerians including President Muhammadu Buhari had at various fora complained about the problem of delayed justice, argued that only an amendment to the Constitution can help tackle the issue.

“In order to address the problem, the first step would be to amend the Constitution to insert time lines for the determination of matters at all levels of courts.

“For trial courts, one year is recommended. For Court of Appeal, one year and two years for the Supreme Court”, he said.

Wodu further disclosed that there were provisions already which require those responsible for delay in the dispensation of justice to answer for their conduct, whether they are judges, lawyers or court officials.

The former AG however stated that it will be impossible to achieve a speedy and expeditious justice delivery system, without taking out electoral disputes from the regular courts.

According to him election cases create a kind of “uncontrollable congestion” of cases in the regular courts because they take about two years to be resolved and while the court is settling down to handle other cases another election year is around the corner to disrupt their schedule of cases.

“Out of an electoral cycle of every four years, the courts spend not less than one and a half and perhaps two years dealing with electoral cases to the detriment of the regular cases.

“Therefore we have recommended that the Constitution be amended to create electoral courts for the determination of electoral cases ranging from pre-election cases, election petitions and the appeals arising from such cases.

“The establishment of these courts will free up the regular courts to attend to the regular matters some of which are very important and crucial to the sustenance of the country”, he said.

Other factors that will enhance speedy dispensation of justice in the country, he noted, require the availability of automated electronic recording facility in all courts established by the Constitution.

This facility according to Wodu should be the responsibility of the federal government which must form part of the annual budget of the National Judicial Council (NJC).