The presiding judge of High Court 4 Minna, Justice Mohammed Mohammed, has described the conditions in courtrooms in Niger state to prisons, lacking basic facilities for humans to function optimally.
Justice Mohammed stated this Monday during the sitting of the court when the room became hot and almost unbearable for lawyers and litigants.
It was learnt that the presiding judge noticed that everyone in his courtroom were sweating and fanning themselves with document papers.
He was said to have also noticed that the only air conditioner in the courtroom was not functioning properly, prompting him to ask court clerk to bring in a standing fan.
Apparently trying to fix the problem, Justice Mohammed was said to have halted proceedings for almost five minutes while pleading with the Bar to bear with him.
However, the standing fan like the air conditioner did not work when it was brought in and the court has to resume under the same harsh temperature with the presiding judge still pleading for more understanding.
He said, “Please bear with us, I can see that the courtroom is a little bit uncomfortable. We have air conditioner that is not functioning properly. As you can see, these chairs in the courtroom have been here since 1986. I even have to fix some of them when I came in.”
