NBA Lawyers Protest Abandonment of Courts in Enugu North, Threaten Boycott of Virtual Hearings

Our Reporter 

NSUKKA, ENUGU STATE — Legal practitioners under the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Nsukka and Obollo-Afor branches, on Tuesday staged a protest over what they described as the abandonment of courts across the Enugu North Senatorial District, threatening to boycott further virtual court proceedings unless urgent reforms are implemented.

The lawyers accused the judiciary of neglecting court infrastructure in the zone, operating a dysfunctional virtual hearing system, and presiding over an administrative process allegedly plagued by extortion and delays.

Speaking to journalists during the protest, Chairman of the NBA Nsukka Branch, Comrade Sunday Agbo, said lawyers in the area had endured months of difficult working conditions and could no longer remain silent.

"We want the whole world to know what the judiciary in Enugu North Senatorial Zone is suffering," Agbo declared.

The protest affects all five judicial divisions in the senatorial district, namely Nsukka, Obollo-Afor, Enugu-Ezike, Ogbede and Umulokpa, where legal practitioners say court activities have been severely hampered by institutional neglect.

According to Agbo, courts in the affected divisions have been largely abandoned since the beginning of 2026 following the adoption of virtual court proceedings.

He alleged that although the state government had invested in security and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure to support digital justice delivery, judges have increasingly stayed away from their designated stations while conducting proceedings remotely from Enugu, the state capital.

"But since early this year, 2026, the state of the courts in this Enugu North Judicial Division has been in a state of abandonment," he said.

The NBA chairman argued that the transition to virtual hearings, rather than improving access to justice, has created significant challenges due to persistent network failures and inadequate infrastructure.

"Most of the time, we'll be left abandoned in the courts on the ground that there's no network. Those of us in Nsukka will stay until 5:00 p.m. in the evening," Agbo lamented.

While acknowledging that virtual hearings are permitted under existing court practice directions, he maintained that the arrangement was never intended to replace the physical presence of judges at their assigned duty posts.

"That does not mean that a judge should abdicate his primary posting," he said.

The lawyers also accused court authorities of centralizing the custody of case files in Enugu, a move they said has crippled legal operations across the district.

According to Agbo, active case files that should ordinarily be maintained by registrars in the various judicial divisions have been transferred to the state capital, making it difficult for lawyers and litigants to access documents and obtain Certified True Copies (CTCs) of court records.

"They took all the case files to Enugu and blocked them there. So if you want a certified copy, you will not get it," he alleged.

The NBA further raised concerns over what it described as widespread extortion within the court registry system.

Agbo alleged that lawyers are frequently compelled to pay between ₦20,000 and ₦30,000 to facilitate the movement of newly filed processes from local court divisions to Enugu for administrative action.

"When you file a process, you will be ordered by the clerk to bring money, ₦20,000 or ₦30,000, for that process to go up to Enugu," he claimed.

He further alleged that applications for certified court documents are often delayed for several weeks unless unofficial payments are made to registry officials.

"If you want a certified copy of a process, it will be delayed two, three, four weeks until you mobilize the registrar with ₦10,000 or ₦30,000," Agbo said.

The NBA branches disclosed that they had jointly submitted a petition to the Chief Judge of Enugu State on March 26, 2026, seeking urgent intervention to address the challenges.

However, Agbo claimed that the petition received no meaningful response.

"The Chief Judge threw it under the carpet," he alleged.

The protesting lawyers are demanding the immediate improvement of virtual hearing infrastructure, the return of case files to registrars in their respective judicial divisions, and the full utilization of judges' residential quarters within the affected court jurisdictions.

Agbo warned that legal practitioners in the district would continue their boycott of virtual proceedings until their demands are addressed.

"I am making it categorically clear that unless an improved situation is there, courts in Enugu North Senatorial Zone will not sit until our protest and demands are attended to," he said.

The development raises concerns about a possible disruption of judicial activities and access to justice across the Enugu North Senatorial District if the impasse remains unresolved.