Some lawyers have urged the Chief Judge of the Federal Capital Territory, High Court, Justice Hussein Baba, to expedite the assignment of many cases currently before the court.

They claimed that many of the cases yet to be assigned to any judge, emanated from vacation courts during the annual vacation period, which spanned between July and September, this year.

The lawyers further claimed that the CJ has been sitting on no fewer than 500 cases since September 16, 2024 when the court resumed from its annual vacation.

The alleged laity on the part of the CJ, according to the lawyers, has left hundreds of litigants in limbo, most of whom have suffered untold losses due to the refusal of the CJ to reassign their cases to Judges.

Some of the lawyers who spoke on condition of anonymity, expressed their disappointment at the alleged dereliction of duty by the FCT CJ.

One of the lawyers said: “One finds it difficult to understand why matters that were forwarded to the CJ from vacation courts are yet to be assigned to judges. Situations like this cripples the

administration of justice. It appears that the CJ has so much on his hands and this accounts for why matters for reassignment have stayed in his office for almost two months without being reassigned to a court.”

Another lawyer, who also did not want his name mentioned for fear of victimisation, said: “I think the CJ of the FCT is overburdened with too much work being the administrative Judge of the entire FCT. He may do well by delegating issues of reassignment to his No 2 Judge and concentrate on other matters within the FCT judiciary. How do one explain why cases have not been assigned for almost two months. This will obviously take a heavy toll on justice delivery within the FCT. “