By Tony Okafor, Awka
The absence of the magistrate in charge of Magistrate Court 4, sitting at Amawbia in Awka South Local Government Area, Esther Chukwu, on Monday, hampered the hearing in a matter between the Catholic Diocese of Awka and Anambra activist, Comrade Osita Obi.
As a result, the case was adjourned to March 23, 2026.
It was gathered that the absence of the presiding magistrate was due to family health challenges.
The Awka Diocese had filed a defamation suit against the activist.
The Catholic Diocese of Awka had sued Obi, who is the Coordinator of the Recover Nigeria Project (RNP), for allegedly posting statements against the diocese on his Facebook page, where he described the Awka Diocese as being worse than Boko Haram for ejecting his wife from a shop without notice and throwing her wares into the rain.
Obi was first arraigned before Magistrate Esther Chukwu on October 31, 2025, and was granted bail, while the matter was adjourned to February 16, 2026.
However, at the resumed hearing on Monday, the activist and other parties were informed that the court could not sit because the magistrate was attending to her sick child.
The new date of March 23 was subsequently fixed for the continuation of the case.
It would be recalled that in October last year, the court ordered the complainant, the Catholic Diocese of Awka, to release all relevant documents to the defendant to enable him prepare his defence.
However, the police have yet to comply with the order.
The police prosecutor, Inspector Edith Okonkwo, had argued that the defendant could not dictate to the police which documents should be released, stressing that the prosecution was only obligated to disclose materials it intended to rely upon during trial and not every document requested by the defence.
However, the magistrate ruled in favour of the defendant, noting that failure to disclose such materials could undermine the integrity of the trial and amount to a denial of fair hearing.
