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Tag: JUSUN

  • Strike: NBA wades into JUSUN in Anambra

    Strike: NBA wades into JUSUN in Anambra

    The Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) in Anambra state has waded into the crisis rocking Judicial Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) and Anambra state government which has led to four month industrial strike by the body.

    NBA has demanded from the state government of Chief Willie Obiano to as a matter of urgency, release the capital and overhead costs for the first ended quarter of the year to JUSUN.

    Other decisions taken by the state branches of NBA in the state led by Chukwudi Obieze, included that an implementation committee be set up to see the implementation of the rest of the agreements reached.

    Briefing reporters Wednesday in Onitsha after the meeting, Obieze said the committee should be headed by the NBA with representatives of the state government, JUSUN officials as members.

    Also, other points agreed upon at the meeting were that the state government should release the monies to the judiciary and all its other arms would reflect the drop in the state consolidated revenue.

    “That the state will commence release of the capital and overhead costs, while the actual salary cost will be released until the judiciary sets up an E-payment platform.

    “The judiciary to notify the state, when E-Payment platform will be ready and that all sums in the judiciary sub-head already commenced, to remain with the state.”

    Based on the agreed terms, NBA therefore called on the JUSUN to call off its strike with immediate effect, while the state government had also been called upon not to renege on the agreed terms.

    But failure by the state government to stick to the terms, NBA said it would take drastic measures in the state which the chairman of chairmen failed to disclose.

    NBA said it was concerned with the lingering crisis that had crippled all the courts in the state, which had lasted for about four months in Anambra.

  • JUSUN tackles commissioner

    The Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) in Ondo State has faulted the comment of the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Eyitayo Jegede, on the industrial action.

    Jegede was quoted to have said that the “Ondo State government has given the little that are made within the Federal Account to the judicial arm of government”.

    In a statement by its Chairman, Femi Ogunode, JUSUN faulted the commissioner’s impression that judicial workers have no reason to continue with the strike because government has complied with the subject of the strike.

    Ogunode said since the report of Jegede’s statement, the union had been inundated with requests for clarification and questions.

    He said stakeholders have been asking them the rationale behind their refusal to call of their strike, when government had released money to the judiciary.

  • JUSUN threatens fresh action against A’Ibom, Lagos, others

    JUSUN threatens fresh action against A’Ibom, Lagos, others

    Court workers under the aegis of the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) have threatened to sue states that have not shown commitment to complying with the court judgment on financial autonomy status of the judiciary.

    JUSUN President Marwan Adamu said yesterday that the union’s leadership was making consultation on how to initiate garnishee proceedings against such state governments for the implementation of the January 13, 2014 judgment by Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court, Abuja.

    The judgment barred piecemeal funding of the judiciary by state governments.

    The judge directed that the funds standing to the credit of state judiciaries should be deducted directly from the Federation Account and disbursed to the various heads of court through the National Judicial Council.

    The union, by the garnishee proceedings, seeks the deduction of funds standing to the credit of the state judiciary in the government accounts.

     Adamu said as at yesterday, about 23 states, including Taraba, where the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mahmud Mohammed, hails from, were yet to give any commitment to ensure the implementation of the judgment.

    “We are making consultations; we are considering filing garnishee proceedings against state governments that had not given us any written undertaking. We will also institute the proceedings against state governments who are not fulfilling their promises,” Adamu said.

    Apart from Taraba State, others defaulting states where the courts had remained shut since January 5, 2015 when the industrial action started nationwide are Zamfara, Sokoto, Kaduna, Edo, Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Ekiti, Osun, Oyo, Ogun, Ondo, Ebonyi, Abia Anambra and Imo.

    Other states are Gombe, Borno, Yobe Adamawa, Nasarawa and Benue.

    Apart from in Lagos State, where the national leadership said it did not approve of the suspension of the workers’ strike, other states where the industrial action had been put on hold are Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Delta, Bayelsa, and Rivers.

    Others are Ekiti, Enugu, Bauchi, Kwara, Kogi and Niger.

  • Poor attendance stalls inquest on Synagogue building collapse

    Poor attendance stalls inquest on Synagogue building collapse

    Further hearing in the coroner inquest on the September 12, 2014 Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN), building collapse continues on Wednesday.

    Chief Magistrate Oyetade Komolafe adjourned the case yesterday following poor attendance by lawyers and interested parties.

    Before the adjournment, Magistrate Komolafe said he was determined to conclude the matter in two weeks.

    He warned lawyers and interested parties against delaying proceedings, saying during the remaining days of this week interested parties would be allowed to watch the CCTV footage tendered as exhibit.

    The Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) January 5 to 25 strike affected the coroner’s sitting.

    Last December 23, it adjourned till January 6 when it hoped that Justice Lateefa Okunnu would have ruled on an application filed by SCOAN founder Pastor Temitope Joshua.

    In the application, Joshua, among others, prayed Justice Okunnu for an order stopping Komolafe from exceeding his jurisdiction in the handling of the case.

  • Lagos courts fail to sit

    The ripple effect of the 25-day strike of judiciary workers was evident yesterday as the courts in Lagos failed to begin adjudication of cases, despite the resumption of work by the workers.

    The court rooms which have been locked since the strike began January 5 were re-opened for litigations.

    The Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) called the strike to press for the autonomy of the judiciary in accordance with the judgment of Justice Adeniyi  Ademola of the Federal High Court, which also declared illegal, the piece meal release of budgetary allocation to the judiciary..

    Activities in the courts took off on a skeletal note as most workers were not aware that the 25-day old strike had been called off.

    Although judges were in court in all the state’s five divisions, the judges could not sit in adjudication over any matter yesterday because of skeletal activities.

    Sources said the judges could not sit because new dates would have to be fixed for cases that have been pending before them prior to the strike.

    Court registrars failed to turn up as the news of suspension of the strike late Saturday night did not circulate well.

    The situation was, however, different in the Litigation and Record Room where lawyers have started filing fresh cases; deponents were also seen deposing to affidavits in front of Oath Commissioners.

  • JUSUN insists on sustained strike

    JUSUN insists on sustained strike

    THE Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) has urged its members to sustain the strike until their demands for financial autonomy are granted by government.

    Its National Vice President (Northeast Zone), Mr. Ahmed Bello, who spoke with reporters in Gombe, said this would help the union to uphold the financial autonomy of the judicial system, as declared by the court.

    “This judgment was obtained January 2014. All efforts had being put in place to see that this strike does not take place and there is nothing we can do.

    “At least we gave the stakeholders all the necessary space for them to see that they implemented what the court has said, but nobody appealed,” said the union leader.

    Bello said JUSUN had obtained judgment on the interpretation of Section 83, sub-section 3, as well as on Section 121, sub-section 3, which declared that judiciary must be financially independent.

    He stated that the strike was not based on issues of welfare, but on absolute financial autonomy for the system.

    Bello added that JUSUN wanted the system to be free from interference to enable the judiciary perform its function fearlessly.

  • Judiciary workers solicit support for strike

    Judiciary workers solicit support for strike

    The Kaduna State Chairman of Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN), Comrade Murtala Aminu, has solicited the support of all Nigerians to the nationwide strike embarked upon by the union.

    Aminu made the appeal when he spoke to newsmen in Kaduna on Monday while on a monitoring mission to enforce the strike.

    He said that the action was meant to enhance access to justice in the country.

    Aminu said the strike was also meant to ensure total independence of the judiciary from its current dependence on the executive.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that all courts in Kaduna metropolis were shut as the workers remained at home in compliance with the directive by the JUSUN national executive council.

    He said that such dependence was contrary to the provisions of the constitution and a subsisting court judgment on the issue.

    Aminu said that an independent judiciary will guarantee access to justice for all Nigerians.

    He said this is because such independence would ensure proper equipping, training of staff and fast track disposal of pending cases.

    Aminu said the strike was “total” across the state, adding that members of the union would not return to work until all their demands were met.

  • JUSUN slams AGF’s selective obedience

    JUSUN slams AGF’s selective obedience

    •Seeks implementation of  ruling on judicial autonomy

    The Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) has criticised the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Bello Adoke (SAN), for allegedly being unfair in his constitutional duties.

    JUSUN President Marwan Adamu said the union’s criticism followed the AGF’s prompt obedience of the October 8 ruling, which sacked Adamawa State Acting Governor Ahmadu Fintiri.

    Adamu noted that the AGF had been reluctant to comply with a judgment delivered on January 13, granting fiscal autonomy to the Judiciary.

    Both judgments were delivered by Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court in Abuja.

    The union leader urged Adoke to direct the accountant-general of the federation to comply with the January 13 judgment in the manner he directed the suspension of the Adamawa State governorship by-election and the swearing-in of James Ngilari.

    He said the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Anyim Pius Anyim; Labour Minister Emeka Wogu; the Minister of State Finance, Bashir Yuguda (who is also the chairman of the Federation Account Allocation Commissioners (FAAC) and other stakeholders, had directed JUSUN members to shelve their planned resumption of the suspended strike on the Executive’s alleged unwillingness to comply with the January 13 judgment.

    Adamu said: “We appreciate the directive by the attorney-general of the federation and minister of Justice to the Chief Judge of Adamawa State, instructing him to comply with the judgment of the Federal High Court in Abuja.

    “We also want to say that since the Minister of Justice, as the chief law officer, has just woken up to his constitutional responsibility now on the Adamawa governorship crisis, he should also replicate same on the judgment of the same judge in JUSUN’s case against the governors on the financial autonomy of the Judiciary, by directing the accountant-general of the federation to comply with the court judgment.

    “We are hoping that he instruct him (the accountant-general) to that effect as soon as possible because since January 13 the accountant-general of the federation is yet to comply with that judgment, especially on the provision of Section 162(9) of the Constitution.”

    He said the union was committed to ensuring the independence and financial autonomy of the Judiciary.

    The union leader added that JUSUN would resume the suspended strike, if it noticed that the Executive was unwilling to keep to its words.

  • Impartiality VS impunity

    Impartiality VS impunity

    •Vital organs of state should not be used as political tools

    One of the pillars of any functional democracy is the neutrality of its police force. As the primary enforcers of law and order, their impartiality is crucial to the credibility and effectiveness of the noble institution they serve. This is why it is so disheartening that the Rivers State Command of the Nigeria Police would act in a clearly partisan manner in the long-running dispute over the position of chief judge of the state.

    Last week, about 30 heavily-armed policemen broke into the Rivers State High Court which had been under lock and key since June 12 when the state branch of the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) went on strike. The police undertook the action at the behest of Justice Daisy Okocha, who was appointed Administrative Judge of the state by the National Judicial Council (NJC) in May.

    The crisis began when the Rivers State Government appointed Justice Peter Agumagu as Acting Chief Judge of the state in August 2013, in defiance of the NJC, which recommended Justice Okocha for the position. Justice Agumagu’s appointment was successfully contested at the Federal High Court by several individuals acting on behalf of the Kengena Unity Forum.

    The Rivers State Government filed a suit in the same court, challenging the powers of the NJC to appoint a chief judge for the state. The court ruled that the state judicial service commission (JSC) rather than the NJC was best-suited to carry out this task, adding that seniority could not be the sole criterion in the selection of a viable candidate. On the basis of this second ruling, Justice Agumagu was confirmed as the state’s chief judge. The response of the NJC was to suspend Justice Agumagu, who has taken the matter to court.

    Regardless of the relative merits of either side, it is encouraging that all parties initially sought to deal with the matter in an acceptable manner through recourse to courts of law. Ironically, it was the NJC which decided to undermine the judicial process in its efforts to achieve its aims when it made Justice Okocha administrative judge.  By so doing, the council became a judge in its own case, ignored the ongoing legal process initiated by Justice Agumagu, and further confused an already-complicated conflict of opinion by introducing the hitherto-unknown appellation of “administrative judge.”

    The intervention of the Rivers State Police Command has taken the issue a step further. By breaking into locked court premises, tear-gassing and threatening bystanders, it has demonstrated a partisanship that is very likely to affect public perception of all of its actions in these and other matters henceforth. Under its new commissioner of police, Mr. Dan Bature, the command has clearly taken sides with Justice Okocha, even though her status is still in dispute.

    For a state which was still in the process of overcoming the depredations of the self-acclaimed “lion” of Nigeria, Assistant Inspector-General (AIG) of police, Mr. Mbu Joseph Mbu, the actions of Bature are a sad reminder of the constitutional anomaly which undermines the position of state governors as chief security officers of their states. Because state police commissioners report directly to the Inspector-General of Police rather than state governors, it is easy for them to disrupt the stability of the states in which they work. However, this comes at the expense of their basic duties of upholding law and order. The sooner the Nigeria Police understand this, the better it will be for everyone. As for the NJC, it would do well to remember that it cannot afford another fiasco so soon after the self-inflicted wounds it caused itself in the matter of Justice Ayo Salami.

  • Akwa Ibom JUSUN suspends strike

    The Akwa Ibom State Judiciary Staff Union (JUSUN) has suspended its proposed strike earlier scheduled to begin on Thursday.

    The Chairman, Bassey Akpan, said the strike will not hold because there were some positive developments towards meeting the demands of the union.