President, Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, Monday in Kano, officially commissioned the Kano Division of the Court of Appeal at a colourful ceremony attended by renowned legal luminaries across the country, including governors of Kano and Jigawa states.
Speaking at the occasion, Bulkachuwa said the Division in Kano was conceived and established with the consent of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, for the purpose of adjudicating cases and clearance of huge backlog of pending legal matters that would help in prison decongestion in addition to reducing cost of litigations.
According to her, the establishment of the Court of Appeal in Kano was also meant to ensure speedy dispensation of justice in a situation where the Court of Appeal in Kaduna was inundated with myriads of pending cases emanating from Kano and Jigawa states, affirming that with the establishment of the Division in Kano obstacles in the way of speedy dispensation would be surmounted.
She said: “As we are today officially commissioning the Court of Appeal Division in Kano we are on the road to dispensing backlog of pending cases without tears. as one entrusted with the responsibility of adjudicating legal matters, we are vehemently determined to execute our assigned responsibility without fear or favour, affection or ill-will and in line with the constitution”.
“It is indeed a historic day for the people of Kano and Jigawa states, having had the opportunity to access justice at the Appeal Court without encountering the rigours of travelling out of the states in the name of ligations. We have competent legal pundits that have been appointed to run the affairs of the Court’s Division in Kano and that we have no iota of doubt about their respective pedigree and integrity,” she added.
“With the two states having the Court in their domains and the commitment they have demonstrated in making its operations feasible and realistic, by agreeing to build a befitting complex for the new division to be permanently sited, we are fully convinced that the effort to establish the Court would never be an exercise in futility,” she stressed.
Speaking earlier, Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of Kano state said he and his Jigawa state counterpart, Alhaji Badaru Abubakar, were determined to support the establishment of the Court of Appeal Division in Kano by effecting a speedy completion of its complex building, adding that the two states were poised to benefit from the decision of the office of the Chief Justice.
He said, when completed, the court’s complex building would be named after Justice Zainab Bulkacuwa, as a mark of her contributions towards the development and progress of the legal profession, stressing that her stewardship as President Court of Appeal, has effected a positive paradigm shift in the business of credible dispensation of justice.
