Access to Justice mourns former CJN, Kutigi

A non-profit organization, Access to Justice on Wednesday joined the legal community to mourn the loss of Hon Justice Idris Kutigi, former Chief Justice of Nigeria (GCON).

In a statement, signed by the Executive Director of Access to Justice, Joseph Otteh, pointed out that the late Kutigu served Nigeria and the Judiciary inspirationally and faithfully.

“We like to remember Hon Justice Kutigi particularly, for it was him who promulgated, in 2009, the Fundamental Rights (Enforcement Procedure) (FREP) Rules (2009) that is currently used to enforce fundamental rights in our courts.

“The FREP Rules fundamentally changed the landscape of enforcing constitutional rights in Nigeria. It simplified fundamental rights litigation, made it speedier, and created a separate, inexpensive filing-cost regime for human rights cases, thus ensuring that poverty was, as far as human rights cases go, not a significant barrier to access to justice.

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“The Rules also direct courts to ensure that international norms of human rights are applied in the resolution of domestic human rights claims,” Otteh said.

“Hon Justice Kutigi’s legacy will live on, not only in the tremendous contributions he made to national development but also in the FREP Rules. No narrative of the struggle for judicial activism in the protection of constitutional rights in Nigeria can be authentic or complete without a mention of his prodigious contribution to it,” he said.