Members of the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN), Kwara branch, on Tuesday joined the national strike to press for the actualisation of judicial autonomy.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that JUSUN officials blocked all entrances to both High Court and Magistrates’ Courts in protest for their demand.
The state Chairman of the union, Mr Ibrahim Sambo, told newsmen at the premises of the High Court that President Muhammadu Buhari had accented to the Judiciary Autonomy Bill, but state governments have failed to implement it.
He said the nationwide strike was due to “the failure of state governors to carry out Executive Order 10 signed by President Muhammadu Buhari granting financial autonomy to the judiciary arm of government”.
Sambo lamented that contrary to what obtains in the executive and legislative arms of government in respect to financial autonomy, the judiciary had not been enjoying that autonomy.
He hoped that Gov. AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq would comply with the directive of the president to ensure financial autonomy for the judiciary.
A legal practitioner Mr Tunde Gegele, among several other lawyers, who were denied entrance into the Magistrates’ Courts, expressed his disappointment over the development.
He said government should endeavour to do the needful so that judiciary can really represent the true nature of last hope of the common man.
Former Secretary of Ilorin branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr Sulyman Abaya, noted that the action taken by the judicial staff was to enforce what is in the constitution.
