Magistrate, Lawyers Escape Death As Roof Collapses During Court Session In Imo

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What could have become a major tragedy in Imo State was averted by providence as the roofs of the Customary Court in Itu, Ezinihitte Mbaise Local Government Area of the state suddenly collapsed on the Magistrate in charge of the court, His Worship, Nnaemeka Ugboma, lawyers and the entire people during court session.

The, incident, according to an eyewitness account, happened Tuesday morning when the clerk of the court was calling out cases to be heard by the court when  suddenly the building caved in and the roofs collapsed on the people inside the court.

This brought to an abrupt end, normal court proceedings at the court as the magistrate was immediately whisked away to safety while lawyers, and the other people in court crawled on their knees out of the court to avoid being hit on the head by the falling roofs.

The dusty looking magistrate was too angry to speak to our reporter as his orderly was busy cleaning him up.

Speaking to our reporter, one of the lawyers, Chief Gerald Aririguzo described the incident as the “the height of a spectacular embarrassment following the sudden cave-in of the court ceiling. Most of my documents were affected because the ceiling fell on a pool of water and splashed filty water all over the court room. It was a total mess to behold”.

It was gathered that the rain fell the previous night in the state adversely affected the office of the chairman of the customary court at Itu, His Worship Nnaemeka C. Ugboma, lawyers, complainants, respondents as well as staff of the court, a development that led to the incident.

In the midst of the confusion and rowdiness, some lawyers contacted the distant Chief Registrar of customary Court of Appeal who said they were facing similar situation at Owerri the state capital and requested that the situation at Itu be put into writing.

Reacting on the incident, the secretary of Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Mbaise branch, Barr Judex Nwawudu explained that NBA in Mbaise will notify the president customary Court of Appeal who is expected to take action on the matter. He however informed that plans are in place to get a temporary court for Ezinihitte division, pending the renovation of the collapsed court building.