Osun judicial workers clash with police, declare indefinite strike
The Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN), Osun Chapter, on Wednesday declared an indefinite strike in the State Judiciary after being teargassed by the state Police Command during a protest to demand for their entitlements from the embattled Chief Judge of the state.
The State Chairman of JUSUN, Comrade Gbenga Kehinde Eludire, who declared the strike in Osogbo, said there is no going back until their demands are met.
The chairman however condemned the alleged brutality act, describing it as barbaric.
According to him, “the union condemns the barbaric attitude of the Police in descending on its members by brutalizing them for no offence other than protesting peacefully to press home their demands.”
In a separate statement made available to newsmen, the Chairman further explained that “the Honourable Chief Judge came today in company of gun-trotting and fierce looking policemen who, apparently working on “an order from above” descended on our members, brutalizing them, tear-gasing them and chasing them away with sticks.
“Our demands are for an investigation into the rot in the Osun Judiciary under the Chief Judge, the high-handedness, corruption and abuse of office by the Chief Judge, and ultimately calling the attention of state government to the plight of some our of members who were unilaterally suspended and their salaries being diverted for over 57 months, and for an improvement in the general facilities and welfare of the judiciary in Osun State,. In response, this is what the Chief Judge has now done to us.”
“Since the Chief Judge doesn’t want to see our faces again as his lordship has failed to yield to our demands, coupled with the fact that the National Judicial Council is not doing anything, we hereby declare an indefinite strike action in the entire Osun State Judiciary pending when our demands will be met. We also call on the Commissioner of Police to investigate the head of the police team in the escort of the Chief Judge, who acted illegally by brutalizing our members.”
NewsClick Nigeria reports that the strike is coming on the heels of the protest embarked upon by the Union members on Monday over allegations of maladministration against the embattled Osun Chief Judge, Justice Oyebola Adepele Ojo.
The state has been in the news recently over developments in its Judicial sector.
