Delayed Justice: FCT CJ Faces Backlog of Over 500 Unassigned Cases

A group of legal practitioners have requested for the Chief Judge of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Justice Hussein Baba, to expedite the assignment of many cases currently before the court.

They claimed that many of the proceedings yet to be allocated to any judge emanated from vacation courts during the annual vacation period, which extended between July and September this year.

The legal practitioners, however, asserted that the CJ has had over 500 cases since September 16, 2024, when the court resumed its annual vacation.

They also claim that negligence of the Chief Judge has led to a situation where hundreds of litigants are suffering due to the refusal of the CJ to reassign their cases to judges.

One of the lawyers said: “One finds it hard to understand why matters that were forwarded to the CJ from vacation courts are yet to be assigned to judges. Issues like this disable the administration of justice. 

It is uncertain why cases received by the Chief Judge from vacation courts remain unassigned.

It seems that the Chief Judge is overwhelmed, and this accounts for why matters for reassignment have stayed in his office for almost two months without being reassigned to a court.”

A lawyer, who also wished to be unnamed, said: “I think the CJ of the FCT is overburdened with too much work being the Administrative Judge of the entire FCT. He may do well by delegating issues of reassignment to his number two judge and concentrating on other matters within the FCT judiciary. How does one explain why cases have not been assigned for almost two months? This will take a heavy toll on justice delivery within the FCT.”