Judiciary workers suspend strike

Lagos State judiciary workers will resume for work today following the suspension of their 25-day  industrial action.

Sources said the union leaders under the umbrella of the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) met at the weekend on the strike.

They also met with officials of the state government led by the Attorney General, Mr. Ade Ipaye.

At the end of the meeting, JUSUN’s state chairman Emmanuel Abioye sent a text message to Ipaye informing him of their decision to suspend the strike.

Ipaye, in a text message sent to newsmen yesterday, gave insight into the meeting held by the two parties.

The text message reads:  “At a meeting with JUSUN, we made it clear that Lagos State already had a Judiciary Self Accounting  Law since 1995, which is being implemented to date with the judiciary getting its recurrent vote as first line charge on the consolidated revenue fund once a month.

“We explained that capital fund cannot, however, be transferred monthly as it has to be accumulated and used for many projects programmed for simultaneous implementation. Besides, projects are better managed by the Ministry of Works, which was set up to serve all arms of government.

“In the end, our position was that Lagos State was already implementing the provisions on autonomy of the judiciary. JUSUN promised to go and look into these. Now, they have resolved to suspend the strike”.

Meanwhile, the General Secretary of  JUSUN, Isaiah Adetola distanced himself yesterday from a statement alleging threat to his life and manipulation of the union by the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke (SAN).

The statement, which was widely circulated in the social media last week, claimed that Adetola was opposed to the move by Adoke and the Federal Government to manipulate JUSUN’s leadership and exploit the strike by the union for political gains.

Speaking at the JUSUN’s National Secretariat in Abuja last week, Adetola said he was embarrassed by the statement, “authored by some enemies of the union with the intention to divide it and distract it from the struggle for the independence of the Judiciary”.

He urged everyone to disregard it.

JUSUN President Marwan Adamu said the union decided to suspend the strike in federal courts alone because the Federal Government gave assurance to always release funds standing to the credit of the judiciary when due.

He said the decision to sustain the strike in state courts was because the states were unwilling to give similar pledge.

Marwan denied the allegation that his union was being manipulated by external forces for political gains.