NBA Ota Embarks on Three-Day Court Boycott, Protests Ogun Judiciary Policies |Omohglobalnews

  

Members of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Ota Branch, during the peaceful court boycott in Ota today. 

By Omosola Olumide Johnson 

OTA, OGUN STATE – The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Ota Branch, on Monday commenced a three-day peaceful boycott of courts across the Ota Judicial Division in protest against policies introduced by the Ogun State Judiciary, which the association said have hindered legal practice and restricted access to justice.

The boycott, scheduled to run from Monday, July 6, to Wednesday, July 8, 2026, followed a resolution of the branch after months of consultations, dialogue and engagements with the judiciary failed to resolve the issues.

Speaking with journalists during the protest, the Chairman of the NBA Ota Branch, Chief Mrs. Kelubia Ajose, said the action became necessary after all efforts to reach an amicable resolution proved unsuccessful.

She explained that the concerns had repeatedly featured at the branch's monthly general meetings, prompting the Executive Committee to engage the judiciary through formal correspondence, Bar and Bench meetings, telephone discussions and interventions by senior members of the legal profession.

According to Chief Ajose, the issues at the heart of the protest include the four-oaths-per-day policy, the increase in oath filing fees from ₦200 to over ₦1,500—representing about a 650 per cent increase—and the ₦100,000 virtual court sitting fee charged per session.

She said the policies have imposed financial and procedural burdens on legal practitioners and litigants and, in the association's view, have infringed on lawyers' constitutional right to effectively represent their clients while limiting access to justice.

As part of the industrial action, members of the association were directed to boycott proceedings at all Ogun State High Courts, Magistrates' Courts, Customary Courts and the Customary Court of Appeal within the Ota Judicial Division, covering Ota, Ifo, Agbara, Idi-Oke, Ijoko, Ojodu Abiodun, Itori and adjoining communities.

The NBA Ota Branch maintained that the protest is peaceful and intended to draw the attention of the Ogun State Judiciary to the need to review the disputed policies in the interest of justice, legal practitioners and the general public.

The chairman added that further directives on the modalities of the protest would be communicated to members as the action continues.