Kano Judiciary treated 21,000 cases in 2020 – Official

The Kano State Judiciary says it handled a total of 21,013 cases between January and December 2020.

The Spokesman of the judiciary, Mr Baba Jibo-Ibrahim, stated this in an interview with newsmen  in Kano on Wednesday.

He said that the cases were both civil and criminal in nature as well as motion and statutory applications.

Jibo-Ibrahim said that out of the 21,013 cases, 6,173 were recorded from the state High Court, 6,521 from the Magistrates’ Court, 8,169 from Sharia Court and 150 from Multi-door Court.

He explained that out of the 6,521 cases recorded from the Magistrates’ Court, 2,934 were civil, 3,449 criminal and 138 statutory applications, out of which 4,893 were disposed while 1,628 cases were still pending before the court.

According to him, out of the 6,173 High Court cases 1,275 have been disposed while 4, 898 were pending, adding that Sharia Court disposed of 4,083 while 4,086 are still pending cases.

“The Kano Multi-door Court received 150 cases out of which 93 had been disposed while 57 are still pending,” he said.

The spokesman further revealed that in total, 10,344 cases had been disposed while 10, 669 were still pending before the court during the period under review.

He said that virtual sitting during the COVID-19 pandemic was the main reason for the pending cases, as only two judges and five magistrates handled emergency cases.

Jibo-Ibrahim further revealed that the Chief Judge, Justice Nura Sagir-Umar, on Dec.9, 2020, released 37 inmates from across the Custodial Centres in the state, as part of efforts to decongest the centres as championed by the Federal Government.

Meanwhile, the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Musa Abdullahi-Lawan, said that the state government had trained all the counsels in the Ministry of Justice.

Abdullahi-Lawan, said that the counsels were exposed to traing on arbitration, implementation of administration of criminal justice law (ACJL) and the use of computers, among others.

“We decided to do the training so that all the counsels in the ministry of justice could be updated so that when they go to court, they would not be left behind.

“We also refurbished the library to make it up to standard so as to help our counsels in terms of authorities and good work environment,” he added.