Sokoto to establish Customary Courts for non Muslims

The Sokoto State Government plans to establish Area Customary Courts and Customary Court of Appeal, the Commissioner for Justice, Suleiman Usman, has said.
Usman made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Sokoto on Wednesday.
Usman said: “The Area Customary Courts will be established in the headquarters of the 23 local governments in the state.
“In the same vein, the Customary Court of Appeal will be established in Sokoto city, to receive appeals from the lower customary courts.”
Usman said that the gesture was to provide non-Muslim residents of the state to seek redress.
According to the commissioner, the plan is to give options to citizens in seeking legal redress outside the Shari’a and Magistrate courts in the state.
He also said that more magistrate courts will be established in all the 23 local government areas of the state.
He said: “The state government also plans to open legal units in all the local governments in the state, to promote dispensation of justice.
“We are also pondering on engaging private investigators to augment the police.
“This is in the bid to hasten the dispensation of justice, as justice delayed is justice denied.
“This is also in the bid to further reduce the rising number of awaiting trial inmates and reduce prisons congestion.”