By Philips Njeteneh
So I left my home at exactly 6.12am this wet Wednesday morning for Court of Appeal Lagos Division for a matter schedule for hearing at Court 1 having received a Hearing Notice on Monday that my matter will be coming up today for Hearing. Though the matter did not make our Chamber roaster for the week, the roaster having been done & dusted last Friday but I took up the matter shoving off others.
I arrived Court of Appeal at 7.05am and had to park outside the court premises and sit in my car waiting for the gate to open at 7.30am (people have been robbed in their cars in similar circumstances in the past).
At 7.20am an elderly colleague drove in front of the gate blaring his horn for the gate to be opened and the security may explained it was not yet time but the senior colleague would not hear of it, insisting to be let in and he was.
Came 7.30am and the gate was flung open and in I went in along with others.
From 7.30am till 8.06am those of us early risers stayed in the Court of Appeal lobby waiting for the two court rooms to be opened and that did not happen until about 8 17am.
Doors of Court 2 opened and we all went in only to be told that the court will not be sitting. That triggered the anger from the Bar “what do you mean court is not sitting, I got hearing notice from the court just yesterday” one colleague said. “My Principal arrived from Abuja yesterday leaving another important matter behind after we got the hearing notice”, said another Counsel. Me, I was just looking, thinking about the fuel I burnt to get here, thinking that my car almost got stuck in a terrible part of the road under the drizzling rain on my way, thinking what I would have done with my time and my fuel. The poor guy from the other side of the bench that gave the information of court not sitting was adamant about our plight, he was just busy explaining away how the court sat yesterday but could not take all matters yesterday but had to rise abruptly informing others that they have an urgent assignment hence the court will not be sitting today, both courts. All these happened yesterday afternoon to say the least, yet nothing was done about reaching out to all about the fact that the court will not be sitting tomorrow (today).
So, after briefly watching the scenario I went back to my car and headed back to the office. Heading back on Eko Bridge Marina was a long queue of vehicles and among them will be Lawyers heading to same Court of Appeal that is not sitting, burning more fuel than I did because they left home later than I did and therefore will burn more fuel and achieve absolutely nothing.
As if the absurdities was not enough, after two hours arriving the office I got a mail from the Court of Appeal dated today informing me that the court will not be sitting today. That mail came through same channel the hearing notice was sent yesterday, and it goes thus:
Wed, Jul 12 at 8:27 AM
Kindly be informed that the Court 1 of the Court of Appeal, Lagos Division will not be sitting on Wednesday the 12-07-23.
New dates will be communicated in due course.
Below are the matters.
Thanks.
Who did this email help???????
We can definitely do better, we just choose not to do better.
Philips Njeteneh
Just Minding My Business