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The Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) on Tuesday shutdown courts and it’s related departments nationwide following the expiration of a 21-day ultimatum issued over the financial autonomy of Judiciary.
The union had been having running battled with the governors on the interpretation of section 121 sub section 3 and other sections that deals on the independent of Judiciary.
The union in 2014 secured a judgement at the Federal High Court, affirming her position on the financial autonomy of the Judiciary.
However, the judgement was never obey or appealed by the governors who prefarred heads of court to go cap in hands begging for funds.
Speaking with Blueprint in Abuja, National President of JUSUN Comrade Marwan Mustapha Adamu said the union would continue with the action until and when her demands are met.
Speaking through the National Treasurer of the Union, Comrade Jimoh Musa Alonge, said despite several communications with the government on the issues on contention, they choose to keep mute on the matter.
He said the union had met the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) on the matter , but their is nothing the CJN can do on the issue rather appealed to the union to suspend the action in the interest of the country.
According to him, “Up till this day, we have not gotten what we wanted. The issue at stake is Section 121 sub section 3 of the 1999 Constitution which most of the governors swore to uphold. They promised to uphold that section of the constitution but surprisingly they are not, which is an impeachable offence.
“The section of that constitution says money meant for the Judiciary should be handed over to the head of courts in the various states. They have refused to do that and in that light, we went to Federal High Court to interprets that section of the constitution, we got a judgement in that matter and it has not been appealed against. Up till this moment we are talking, none of the governors has appealed against that judgement, so it is still subsisting.
“Even before then, we have been fighting this issue of the independence of the judiciary. It got to some extend that the Federal Government intervened, the Accountant General of the Federation intervened, there supposed to be deduction from source but some of the governors intervened and promised to do the needful in various state. We obliged them but to our dismay, 80 to 90 per cent of the governors are not doing what we expect of them.
“We complained to the President of the country, in a letter we sent to him, we avail him with all our problem, we documented it, sent it to him and graciously, the President listened to us and form a committee to look into the autonomy of judiciary in the country.
“The committee came up with a result so as the money meant for Judiciary should be given directly from the source. The President thereafter Came up with Order 10, to make sure it works so judiciary will keep up again in this country.
“But the governors came together and they are thwarting this efforts. That we cannot take anymore, if a constitutional provision is amended and an order is given by the President of this country, and some group of people come together and think they are tin-god, that they cannot respect the constitution, we would take the bull by the horn and fight for our right. The last result of a union’s patient is strike and that is what we have started and we are not going back until our demand is met.
“We met with the Chief Justice of Nigeria today, we just came out of the meeting with him. He shows his dismay and surprise that all these happenings were not channeled to him. After explanation, he reason with us and he was satisfied with our demands, it’s our right, it worth fighting for but he appealed in the interest of the country as a father would do for us to find a better way of resolving this matter by soft landing. But as we rightly know, what we are demanding for is not in the hands of Chief Justice of Nigeria to give. So, you cannot give what you don’t have but he has appealed to us and we have promised him we are going to call our NEC meeting for Thursday-Friday to discuss his appeal to them, and whatever comes out, we would let him know.
But for now, the strike is on and will continue until our demands are met, no retreat, no surrender”.
On compliance to the directives of the National Executive Council (NEC) of the union, Comrade Jimoh said “the strike is total 100 per cent compliant, all over the country. If you listen to news and go round, you will find out that all courts, across the country, all Federal Courts have been shut down, total compliance”.
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