Fire Guts Kwara State High Court for the Second Time in Seven Months, Destroys Documents

Date: 2024-10-01

News from Daily Trust reveals that the Kwara State High Court has been engulfed by fire, destroying important documents and other valuables in the process.

This latest incident, which occurred shortly after 8 pm on Sunday, completely gutted a judge's chambers, housing courtroom 10. The judiciary worker who spoke to the correspondent revealed that the court had not fully recovered from a similar fire incident in February, which destroyed over 200 case files and other critical office equipment. Renovation works on the litigation office, damaged during the previous fire, were still ongoing before this recent blaze.

The incident, it was learnt, had raised concerns in the justice sector in the state.

The Kwara State Fire Service which confirmed the incident, said it was caused by a power surge.

The rubbles from the items destroyed in the fire included two air conditioners, a plasma television, a fan, documents, and furniture.

A statement by the service spokesman, Hassan Adekunle, said the quick response of the fire service personnel prevented further damage to the complex, which houses several courtrooms.

“Investigations revealed that the fire originated from a standing air conditioner due to a power surge,” the statement said.

City & Crime recalled that the first incident was also attributed to a power surge by the fire service.

During an inspection of the facility then, our correspondent observed that several files of concluded and ongoing cases including those since the inception of the court were burnt.

The Chief Registrar, Magistrate Ibironke Olawoyin, had described the burnt section as the engine room of the high court.

She said, “That section is the engine room of the high court. This is not about 100 or 200 cases. Our appeal cases, ongoing cases and processes that are being filed including some coming up this week. Not a single file was saved; everything was completely burnt.

“If not for the way the structure of the building was built and that most of the offices were departmentalised, it would have been more colossal.”

Former Ilorin NBA chairman, Kamaldeen Gambari, in a telephone chat with City & Crime, advised that serious steps should be taken to forestall a recurrence.

“The judiciary has not told us the files that were affected and how important they are. It is only when the burnt files are identified before we know the implications on the litigants.

“Going forward, the judiciary is an arm of government and it will not be out of place if a segment of the fire service is located within the high court premises. Also, the idea of keeping files physically by the judiciary should not be continued.

“If those files burnt now are in soft copies, nothing would have been lost, we would have just retrieved them. But as it is now, we have lost those files,” he added.

 

Cloud Tag: What's trending

Click on a word/phrase to read more about it.

Abdulwasiu Bolaji Adeyi     Christopher Tunji Ayeni     Abdulsalam A. Yusuf     Baba Issa Awoye     Ekiti     Nigeria Association Of Women Journalists     Idris Amosa Saidu     Gbadeyan Gbadura Yomi     Playing Host     Kaosarah Adeyi     Omoniyi Ayinla     Taofeek Sanusi     Ajia-Bako     SSA Youth     Alfa Modibo Belgore     Timothy Olatunde Fadipe     Sulyman Age AbdulKareem     Salami Adekunle     Sarafadeen Kayode Akorede     Durosinlohun Atiku     Abdulganiy Abimbola Abdussalam     Ope Saraki     Muftau Akanbi Oke     Afetu Of Alabe     Ayedun     Bello Abubakar     Saad Omo\'ya     Adijat Adebiyi     Igbomina     Oko Erin     Issa Manzuma     Lateef Fagbemi     Babatunde Idiagbon     Arca Santa     Zara Umar     Kwara State Infrastructure Development Fund     Vasolar     Abdulmajeed Abdullahi     Oba Sulaiman Asude     Omoniyi     Taibat Ayinke Ahmed     Oluronke Adeyemi     Bio Ibrahim     Dankaka     Offa     AGF Abdulrazaq     Abdul-Rahoof Bello     Zaratu Umar     Mubarak Oladosu     Tunji Ajanaku     Isiaka AbdulRazaq     Nigeria Governors\' Forum     Jide Ashonibare     Umar Adelodun     Zainab Abass     Funmi Salau     Balogun Fulani     Aishat Mohammed Lawal     Patience Jonathan     Sobi Specialist Hospital     George Innih     Bolaji Aladie     AbdulFatai Adeniyi Dan-Kazeem     Gobir     Ahmad Olanrewaju Belgore     NIPR     Gbajabiamila     Kwara 2019     Frootify     Muhammad Fawaz Abubakar     Kolawole Bashirat     Saad Omo Iya     Kumbi Titilope     Hikmah AbdulKareem     Rotimi Oyedepo     Oke-Ero     Atiku Abubakar    

Cloud Tag: What's trending

Click on a word/phrase to read more about it.

Omoniyi     Samuel Elizabeth Keatswa     Lucky Omoluwa     Taofeek Sanusi     Kulende     Doyin Agbamu     Mahee Abdulkadir     Sidikat Alaya     Magaji Erubu     Danhawa     Tunde Oyawoye     Ola Falade     Olaiya Lawal     Tanke Road     Odo-Owa     Bola Olukoju     Kwara Apc     Curfew     Ayo Adeyemi     Kumbi Titiloye     Sadiq Umar     TVC Female National Debate     Tsaragi-Share     Isaac Aderemi Kolawole     Jide Ashonibare     Rotimi Oyedepo     Idris Amosa Oladipo Saidu     Usman Yunusa     Special Agro-industrial Processing Zone     Ilorin South Constituency     Okanlawon Taiwo     Umar Saro     Isiaq Khadeejah     YAKOOYO     Benin Republic     Umar Gunu     Taibat Ayinke Ahmed     Yoruba     Afonja     Kwara Metro Park     Aminat Ahmed     Yusuf Abdulraheem     Abdullahi Biffo     UITH     Irepodun     Isiaka Abdulrazak     Abdullahi Adisa Akodudu     Ijagbo     AbdulGaniyu Kareem     Afolabi-Oshatimehin     Mohammed Katsina Ahmed     Forgo Battery     Ayinde Oyepitan     Simon Sayomi     M.Y. Abdulrahaman     Okala Baba     Cassava Growers\' Association     Gbemi Saraki     Busari Toyin Isiaka     Muslimah Entrepreneurship Forum     Read With Me     Olokoba Abdullahi Ayinla     Ahmad Uthman     Moses Afolayan     Afusat Nike Ibrahim     Oniyangi     Ubandoma Of Ilorin     Ado Ibrahim     Ibraheem Adeola Katibi     Age AbdulKareem     Hassan Taiye Salam     Bluenile Associates     Kwara Basketball Association     Muyiwa Oladipo Kanu     Musibau Akanji     Association Of Kwara State Online Media Practitioners     Ahmed Alhasssan