Have I been to a court before? The simple answer is yes! But the question that follows is, what did I went there for? Last four years, I had to go to the court because I needed to swear an affidavit for my date of birth. After I finished my WAEC, I needed to get my national identification card which I needed to upgrade my bank account.
When I got to the secretariat, I was asked to bring my local government of origin and my birth certificate. I had no money on me but luckily for me, I went there with a friend. I already had my local government of origin but not my birth certificate so I needed that too. Like I said, I had no money and my friend had just a little and because of that, instead of me to get an original birth certificate, I went for the cheaper one and that was for me to go to the court to swear an affidavit.
That was my first time of being in the court, I did not spend so much time there because the person that attended to me didn't take much of my time. The court was so quiet, there was just two people inside, I guess there was no case available to be judged that day, hehe. I paid three times less than what I would have paid if I did the original and from what I was made to understand, I can also use the affidavit I sworn to do what ever I would use the original birth certificate for.
I was able to finish what I went to the court for and I couldn't help but notice the fact that the court was just as I've seen in movies but the difference is the court room was not as beautiful and dashing as the ones I see in other countries especially Seoul, lolz. Although I had a little issue which was resolved almost immediately. In the affidavit, it was said that the guardian has to be available to affirm to the affidavit before they can give it to me.
But then, they asked of my age which I told them and they also asked my purpose of swearing an affidavit which I told them and they agreed to sign on it. They signed on two places with different shades of pen and asked me to make a photo copy of it and keep the original copy safe and that was exactly what I did and it has been really helpful for me.
Like I said, the visit to the court was a very short one but then I was happy I got to see how a court look like. One funny experience I had in the court was, you know in the movies when the court was in section they advise everyone to be as quiet as possible except for those the judge recognized to speak. So with that in my mind, when I was entering into the court room I was walking like a ninja, lolz. Well, if you don't know, ninjas are very light when walking, you can never know they are walking except you are one of them or you have a light ear too, lolz.
The person that was leading the way was not even walking as if she cared about making too much noise but then the movies I've seen kept playing in my head and I refused to walk as I should, I'm sure the woman must have chuckled when she noticed how I was walking. The experience in the end was all fun but then I'm sure that's because I wasn't there as a criminal, if not it won't have been fun at all 😂.
This has been a brief story of my short experience in the court.
Until next time, stay AWESOME!!!