By Ijendu Iheaka
Umuahia. Oct. 16, 2025
The Chief Judge of Abia, Justice Lilian Abai says that justice delayed is justice denied because the weight of delays casts a shadow over the justice system.
Abai said this at the Umuahia High Court Complex on Thursday during a special High Court Session beginning the 2025/2026 Legal Year with the theme “Reforming Abia State Justice Sector In The Digital Era.”
She said that technology is today shaping lives, work and governance, noting that Abia Judiciary’s challenge is ensuring the system is anchored on eternal principles of equity and fairness while adapting to digital change.
“Delay has too often cast a shadow over our justice system, eroding trust and testing the patience of those who look to us for fairness.
“Files linger too long, procedures weigh heavily and backlogs stretch beyond measure, but with vision, innovation, and commitment we can rebuild confidence and restore the speed, fairness and integrity justice demands,” she said.
Abai said although technology may quicken justice and enrich legal practice, only the human heart can give it a soul while only the human spirit gives justice meaning.
Stressing the need for reforming, Abai called for the union of “humanity with innovation” to ensure progress in the sector serves efficiency and the dignity of persons who come before the law.
She called for partnership between the Executive, Legislature, the Bar, Civil Society and other partners to collaborate to enable funding, new practice systems, and support to ensure the reformation succeeds.
In his speech, the Chairman, NBA, Aba, Mr. Charles Onuchukwu said the legal year ceremony is a time for reflection, rededication and reawakening.
He said the theme was apt because justice, which is the bedrock on which peace, order and prosperity rests is the soul of every society.
Onuchukwu said as Abia Judiciary embraces technological reformation, it must confront its foundational realities to make real progress.
He noted the inadequacy of judges and courtrooms and called for the declaration of state of emergency in Abia’s judiciary to enable all-round reformation.
He called for attention to deeper problems of Abia’s judiciary in order not to use digitalization as smokescreen to cover more troubling challenges in the sector.
The chairman called for a stakeholders conference to resolve issues stalling the appointment of new judges in Abia for the sake of justice.
Onuchukwu also decried the indiscriminate imposition of taxes on Abia residents in the name of Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) which is overburdening them with over 300 per cent increase.
He concluded saying “We welcome digital reforms but we demand sincerity, we desire innovation but we insist on infrastructure, we applaud technology but we require the truth.”
The Chairman, Ohafia NBA, Mr. Kalu Ojike, in his address said there is need for digital reforms but added that the reforms must be holistic.
Ojike said any planned reformation of the justice sector in Nigeria without the reformation of the Nigeria Police personnel’s attitude to the common man on the streets and to their jobs cannot succeed.
He decried the absence of standing Magistrate’s Court Rooms in Ohafia Judicial Division, stressing that the Magistrate in the division sits at the Ohafia Bar Centre graciously given to ensure cases are heard.
He said there are about four gigantic but dilapidated buildings at the Ohafia High Court premises which no one is willing to renovate for use of the courts, noting that action should be taken to save the sector there.
Ojike said whatever caused the seizure of appointment of judges in Abia must be stopped without delay to enable Abia indigenes take their place in the national judicial sector.
He called for the appointment of judges to reduce caseload of sitting judges in the state and to ensure they did not die because of the stress on them from many cases to attend.
He concluded that the gap between the state judiciary’s ambition and its current position is wide but expressed optimism that with proper government attention and sincerity, the gap will be closed.
“My take is simple, if we cannot provide justice to the poor in a manner that it will not only be done but manifestly seen to be done, let us close shop,” he said.
