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OWERRI—There are strong indications that the courts in Imo State may continue to remain shut, following the inability or unwillingness of the feuding parties to reach a truce.
The courts were shut down May 12, 2016, when the leadership of the state Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria, JUSUN, with the tacit approval of the National Headquarters of the Union, ordered their members to remain at home until the state government pays their salaries.
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An angry staff, who spoke on strict grounds of anonymity, yesterday, said: “Judiciary workers in the state began the industrial action May 12, 2016, over our unpaid salaries. We have not been paid a dime since this year and we cannot continue to suffer unduly.”
Vanguard gathered, yesterday, that the peace meeting called at the instance of the state Chief Judge, CJ, Hon. Justice Paschal Nnadi, failed to achieve the desired goal.
It was also gathered that the participants at the meeting included the Chairman of Imo State Chapter of JUSUN, Mr. Kenneth Aloka, the body of Senior Advocates, retired chief judges of the state and the executives of Nigerian Bar Association, NBA.
A source within the system told Vanguard that the CJ pleaded with JUSUN leadership to order their members to “please return to work, but the plea was rebuffed by the angry labour leaders.”
The unionists were particularly irked that they have not been paid a dime as salarie since the beginning of year and even fumed at the way the government has been treating Judiciary workers in the state.
They fumed that they were not only coerced into accepting 50 per cent of their legitimate salary, but now are expected to accept 70 per cent of the initial 50 per cent, which they said was “funny and most unacceptable.”
The labour leaders, Vanguard was told, were not happy that while their counterparts in the nearby states were receiving their full emoluments, the judiciary workers in Imo were being coerced to accept peanuts.
Meanwhile, all the lawyers that spoke to Vanguard, yesterday, on the lingering strike, appealed to the feuding parties to quickly hit a compromise, as a lot of things were going wrong.
“There is no doubt that the courts have remained shut as a result of the workers' strike. All the civil and criminal trials have remained on hold. People can no longer approach a court to press home their fundamental rights and this is not good for our society,” Mr. Frank Unyimadu reasoned.