14th July, 2014
Henry Ojelu
Lawyers and litigants were refused entry into Lagos court premises Monday as Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria, JUSUN, continue their indefinite strike action to protest poor conditions of service.
The union had on Friday last week mandated its members nationwide to shut down all courts in the country except the federal courts following government’s failure to implement
the Judgment of a Federal High Court on the financial autonomy of the state judiciaries.
In a communique issued at the end of the emergency meeting of the National Executive Committee, NEC, of the union, JUSUN also asked the federal judiciary workers to be
at alert because they may be requested to join the strike in solidarity with their state chapters.
The communique which was jointly signed by the National President of the union, Marwan Adamu, and the General Secretary, Isaiah Adetola, also stated that the national secretariat of the union had taken over the industrial dispute by the Rivers State JUSUN recently over leadership crisis.
JUSUN said it is unfair for both the National Judicial Council, NJC, and the Rivers State Judicial Service Commission, JSC, to issue two separate directives for and against returning to
work, adding that the workers cannot serve two masters at the same time.
He said the union cannot resume work unless the critical stakeholders in Rivers State amicably resolve the matter so as to ensure security of the workers.
Our correspondent who monitored the strike in Lagos Monday observed that the gates of the Lagos and Ikeja High Court Division were locked.
Litigants who were unaware of the strike were denied entry into the court premises by security guards at the gates as well as some JUSUN officials.
One of the prominent matters slated for Monday involved businessman and Cross Country transport company boss, Bube Okorodudu, which could also not go on due to the strike.
Okorodudu, against whom the court had issued a bench warrant, was seen outside the premises of the court in company of his lawyers.
Officials of JUSUN enforcing the strike action refused to make any comment on the compliance and referred journalists to their national officers.