Non re-constitution of Customary Courts worry Ondo lawyers

They said no Customary Court and Rent Tribunal in the state has been functioning since the inception of the present administration in February, 2009 and that no cogent reasons have been given for the delay. Lema and Womitenren said they might be compelled to institute legal action against the state government and ministry of justice […]

They said no Customary Court and Rent Tribunal in the state has been functioning since the inception of the present administration in February, 2009 and that no cogent reasons have been given for the delay.

Lema and Womitenren said they might be compelled to institute legal action against the state government and ministry of justice “if the tribunal is not constituted within two weeks.”

To Ogungbemi and Odunsola, the delay in the constitution of the Customary Courts and Rent Tribunals have slowed down judicial activities in the state “and has exposed the poor to unnecessary humiliation from the rich since the appropriate courts that would have served as their hope do not function.”

The lawyers said that many celebrated marriages have crashed in different parts of the state in the last one year without legal agreement on the upbringing and custody of children of the marriages while many tenants have suffered unwarranted ejection from their landlords.

Investigations revealed that about three thousand six hundred unsettled marital cases are now pending in various Customary Courts in the state while pending cases in the Rent Tribunal in Okitipupa, Ondo, Odigbo, Ikare, Owo and Akure were estimated at 2100. It was also gathered that traditional rulers are having a hectic time settling disputes that border on land and matrimonial issues as aggrieved people could not seek redress in the appropriate courts.