A legal practitioner, Mr. Chinaza Egwuatu has petitioned the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Olukayode Ariwoola, asking why the Nigeria Judiciary has deliberately abandoned the Court of Appeal, Enugu Divisional complex and allowed it to rot.
Invoking the Freedom of Information Act 2011in the petition also copied to the Attorney General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi, the Enugu-based lawyer requested Nigeria’s Chief Judicial Officers to furnish him with the reasons behind the abandonment of the Court of Appeal complex in Enugu State; the efforts being made by the government and relevant authorities to restore and rehabilitate the building and the timeline and action plan for the restoration of the important building.
Egwuatu also asked Justice Ariwoola to tell him if the Judiciary was encountering any obstacles in the process of restoring the facility and when Nigerians should expect the judges to return to their permanent chambers at the complex. It will be recalled that Judiciary officers had since 2022 moved out Court of Appeal complex in Independence Layout Enugu, citing structural defects in the complex and made a temporary accommodation at the Old GRA Enugu.
Litigants had since then complained about the difficulty of meeting up with court sessions due to the separation of the appeal court from both the state and federal high Courts that were previously domiciled in the same location as a court of appeal before it was detached from the GRA.