The Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN), Osun Chapter, yesterday, declared an indefinite strike following teargas fired at protesting workers by the police stationed at the High Court entrance located at Oke-Fia area of the state capital on Wednesday.
JUSUN Chairman, Oluwagbemiga Eludire, who announced the strike, said it was necessary to put a stop to mismanagement of the judiciary in the state.
Eludire said that Osun State Chief Judge (CJ), Justice Oyebola Adepele Ojo, had declared “war” against workers, adding that the union would not back down except answers were provided to the questions asked the embattled CJ.
He said that the union had picketed the office of the CJ for the purpose of trashing out unresolved issues that include the unlawful suspension of some of its members for over 57 months without recourse to the Judicial Service Commission (JSC).
“Following the action of the police and the attitude of the Chief Judge, I, Gbenga Eludire, hereby order that workers in the sector should withdraw their service till further notice,” Eludire said.
The judiciary workers had on Monday locked the entrance of the Osun State High Court in Osogbo where the office of the CJ is located, in protest against what they described as unlawful suspension of three of their colleagues and also kicked against the non-release of their wardrobe allowance from 2021 till date by the CJ.
In a similar manner on Tuesday, the workers stormed the premises of the court and continued their demonstration.
However, the protest turned violent, yesterday, after Adepele-Ojo drove into the court premises under tight security and went into her office.
Upon sighting the CJ, the workers got infuriated and made attempt into gaining access into the court premises, apparently to harass her out of the office.
But her security details, consisting of police officers, clashed with the workers while trying to disperse them.
The cops fired teargas as the workers and journalists fled.