As Sanwo-Olu order throws court in disarray
Emmanuel Thomas l Monday, March 23, 2020
IKEJA, Lagos, Nigeria – The directive from the Lagos State Government asking workers from Level 1 to 12 to stay away from work as part of effort to curtail the COVID-19, Coronavirus pandemic has paralised activities in the various courts in Ikeja, Lagos.
Most of the courts are currently not sitting, as most of the judges who turned up for normal sitting were forced to take their files and leave having no staff to work with.
The judges usually work with registrars, clerks and verbertim reporters who are within the ranks of level 1 to 12 affected by the directives. The situation in the court was further worsened by the lack of light and unfunctional generators which has plagued the courts for weeks now, leaving many litigants fraustrated.
Most of the lawyers who turned up for normal proceedings in some of the courts were seen standing and discussing the situation in groups. The situation is however different at the Special Courts session which takes care of cases having to deal with corruption, rape and child defilements, where the security officials were under strict instruction not to allow anybody into the court premises but lawyers who have cases pending with the court and their parties.
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Journalists who were able to pass through the main gate were however not allowed into the only court that was in session presided over by Justice Mojisola Dada. The police orderly to the judge stepped out to politely turn away journalists who have visited for nomal coverage.
“I have instruction from My Lord that only litigants, defendants and parties to the suit should be allowed”, she said. She insisted, that the instruction was from My Lord, when the reporters inquired if journalists were equally barred.
“Yes, it included journalists”, she told a team of reporters that were present at the court. Journalists and counsels were also not allowed into the court presided over by Justice Sherifat Solebo.
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu had on Sunday introduced more preventive measures to break the cycle of transmission of the novel coronavirus by directing the state’s civil servants from Grade Level 1 to 12 to stay off office for 14 days.
The directive came two days after the State Government shut down schools and suspended public gatherings of more than fifty persons. The measure followed confirmation of additional coronavirus cases across the nation on Sunday, with three more confirmed in Lagos. Sanwo-Olu said the stay-at-home directive did not affect the civil servants on essential duties and first responders whose levels fall in the cadres.
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“I am hereby directing that all public officers in the entire unified public service from Grade Level 1 to 12, which constitute about 70 per cent of our entire public workforce should stay at home from March 23, 2020 and this will last for 14 days in the first instance.
“We will review this measure as time goes on. Members of the public are advised to refrain visiting any of our public offices. They are to transact any businesses as it is possible on the phone or online channels. This stay-at-home order does not affect our first responders. Medical personnel, fire fighters, members of emergency services, those in waste management operations and all those on essential services are meant to still be at their duty posts.”
“I want to reiterate that the Government will frown at any organisation, whether public or private, that is not obeying this directive. The social distancing directive is not a religious matter; it is a matter of morality and civic responsibility. Times like this call for heightened commitment to doing the right thing. Our law enforcement agents are to ensure that there’s strict compliance to this important public health tips.”
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“As part of our strategy to strengthen our efforts, more health workers are also being trained and we have put some of our retired nurses and doctors on notice, who will come to support health personnel who are working tirelessly at this time.
“We will not relent in our determination to battle this coronavirus to a standstill. We are sure that we will win this battle as we have always won in Lagos. With the cooperation of the people towards obeying the public health guidelines, I believe this epidemic will also pass by us in no time.”
