Fire guts section of high court in Kwara

The Kwara State High Court complex was on Tuesday morning razed by fire which left hundreds of files and office equipment destroyed. The Kwara State Fire Service attributed the fire to a power surge. During an inspection of the facility on Tuesday, our correspondent noticed that the litigation office and other office equipment were destroyed. […]

The Kwara State High Court complex was on Tuesday morning razed by fire which left hundreds of files and office equipment destroyed.

The Kwara State Fire Service attributed the fire to a power surge.

During an inspection of the facility on Tuesday, our correspondent noticed that the litigation office and other office equipment were destroyed.

Speaking with our correspondent in her office, the Chief Registrar, Ibironke Olawoyin, described the burnt section as the engine room of the court.

She said, “That section is the engine room of the high court of justice. 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 are departmented, it would have been colossal.”

The Chairman of NBA, Ilọrin, Kamaldeen Gambari, during a telephone chat on Tuesday, told Daily Trust that, “Very serious steps should be taken to forestall 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.”

In a statement, spokesman of the Kwara State Fire Service, Hassan Adekunle, said firemen were alerted through a distress call and that they responded swiftly.