By Raphael Ede
Enugu
Enugu state House of Assembly has passed into law the bill to make provision for the procedure to be followed in criminal cases in high courts and magistrate courts in Enugu State, House Bill No. 7, 2016.
The passage of the bill into law followed the report of the joint House Committee on Judiciary, Public Petitions Ethics, presented by the chairman, House Committee on Juduciary, Hon. Philip Nnamani to the house yesterday at the plenary.
Leader of the House, Hon. Ikechukwu Eze, who had earlier presented the executive bill on the floor of the House, moved that the House be dissolved into committee of the whole to consider the report before it was eventually passed after going through the bill, clause by clause.
It can be recalled that during the debate on the bill last year, members condemned the unnecessary delays and adjournments in criminal cases in courts and moved that it was due for amendment for quick dispensation of justice and in the process, decongest the prisons.
Speaker of the House, Hon. Edward Ubosi who presided over the passage of the bill into law, thanked his colleagues for their contributions during the debate prior to its passage.
Ubosi said that this showed that his colleague take their jobs seriously and wished God to bless them.
He said: “I hope that my colleague is aware of the implications of what he has just done as provided for in section 68 of the 1999 constitution as amended because the PDP as a party is one, is intact. I fear for his seat and the consequences that may follow as a result of this action.
