He stated this during an interview with the Golden Newspaper in his office at the Secretariat Complex, in the all Ijaw State capital Yenagoa.
The Solicitor General who explained that, from Wednesday, 27th May, 2020 the judicial system will be fully operational through out the State as against the period of COVID-19 total lockdown, made a revelation that the justicial system had never been shut down totally as it was being insinuated Hear him:
" The justice system was never suspended totally because of the Coronavirus pandemic in our state, the Courts were always there, but they dealt only with criminal cases.at the peak of the COVID-19 in the State. Such criminal cases, in which accused or defendants were in custody, and the number increasing; if there was no court to decide criminal cases, the custodial centers must have been congested, against the rules and guidelines of COVID-19."
Preye Agedah who noted with concern, went further to say that:
"The concentration is always in response to the COVID-19 pandemic so that anybody who aught not be in prison or custody, assuming they tried his case and he is discharged and aquited, that person returns home. That ofcourse is decongestion. If a person has a good reason to be there because the court finds him guilty, he should be there.
"We the Lawyers, as the Judiciary came up with that we have been going to Court. I personally had been to Court of appeal twice, some of my colleagues also went to appeal Court to deal with criminal cases before them in Port Harcourt.
"The idea was also to see if the custodial centers could be decongested, if somebody has been convicted by trial Court as of merit, appealed and the person discharged and aquited he goes home and the custodial centre is decongested like I said earlier; if the custodial centre like Okaka prison was congested, and virus enters there, that could have been disastrous to the State. So, we were going to court to effect timely dispensation of Justice, especially with criminal cases."
The Permanent Secretary stated unequivocally that civil cases like land cases, contract cases etc. were suspended which made it appear as though there were no legal activities during this COVID-19 period, but from next week Wednesday, 27th May, 2020, after the public holiday, the Courts are coming up with new practice,.new direction.
On how the Courts can resume fully, to give attention to all kinds of cases: criminal,.civil, contract cases etc. with innovations read :
"There will also be virtual hearing, which for instance, when you have filed your address in court and wants to adopt it, or the court is going to deliver a ruling on a case, as a counsel you don't have to go to the Court, because you can do it right in your office, by connecting on an online platform, the Court will deliver it's ruling... without you necessarily being present in Court."
Preye Agedah was emphatic on strict compliance to the rules of COVID-19, which has to do with social distancing, wearing face masks, application of sanitizers before entering the court etc.
He used the medium to call on people of the state to obey the rules and guidelines announced by Government as a measure to stop the spread of COVID-19 in the state, making it clear that anymore who flouts government orders may be considered to have committed a crime and may be arrested and prosecuted.according to law.
He has therefore given a word of caution to the masses.thus:
"Those who defied the COVID-19 rules could not say, they didn't commit a offence, because anybody who disobeys law committed an offence punishable by law . Therefore our people need to be law abiding so as not to fall victim to arrest, to trial and convictions because of flouting government orders on the rules of Coronavirus"
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