Some judiciary workers have expressed disgust over the complete halt of activities in Ondo following an indefinite strike by magistrates, presidents of Grade ‘A’ customary courts and members of the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) and the inability of Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa’s administration to find a solution.
The strike has resulted in the closure of courts across all 18 local government areas of the state as the industrial action was triggered by the state government’s failure to grant the judiciary full financial autonomy as required by the Constitution.
In a statement issued by some of the striking judiciary workers in Ondo, on Thursday, they accused the executive arm of the government of deliberately starving the judiciary of funds, a situation they described as having plunged the state into a “constitutional crisis.”
The workers specifically accused Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa, Attorney-General Kayode Ajulo (SAN), and the Commissioner for Finance, Mrs. Omowumi Isaac, of actions and policies that undermined the independence and effective functioning of the judiciary.
The statement noted that delays in fund releases, reversal of approvals and administrative bottlenecks have made it impossible for courts to operate.
Their account partly read, “The sunshine state is presently in constitutional freefall. In the “Sunshine State,” the light of the law has been extinguished. This is an act of institutional vandalism by the Executive branch. By starving the judiciary of its constitutionally mandated financial autonomy, the state government has effectively declared war on its own citizens.
“The perpetrators of this “war” are an unholy trinity: the emperor – Lucky Aiyedatiwa – the Chief Security Officer of the state whose lavish spending on personal interests and indifference to the suffering of the people is reminiscent of Queen Marie Antoinette’s excesses and lack of empathy.
“The Attorney General – Kayode Ajulo SAN, – The General executing his principal’s campaign of strangling the judicial arm of the state, Mrs. Omowumi Isaac -Commissioner for Finance: the tip of the spear, Used by the executive to dodge responsibilities, rescind approvals, delay files, alter established disbursement protocols and create an illusion of penury by the executive.
“This judicial capture has the human cost. Hundreds of citizens now languish in overcrowded police cells and correctional facilities in Akure and beyond, denied the right to arraignment or bail.
“Survivors of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and victims of domestic abuse are left defenceless.”
The statement added, “Without the shield of a sitting magistrate to issue protection orders, the state has effectively abandoned its most vulnerable to their abusers. The Aiyedatiwa-led administration’s refusal to honour the judiciary’s financial independence is a direct strike at the heart of the state’s economy.
“Commercial paralysis: Contractual enforcement has vanished. Land and customary law conflicts, Real estate transactions, probate matters, and debt recoveries are frozen, creating a climate of high-risk uncertainty that repels investment and invite chaos.
“Impoverishing the bar: Thousands of legal practitioners, who depend on active litigation to feed their families, have seen their livelihoods evaporate overnight.
“The road to anarchy; a state without a functional court is not a democracy; it is a lawless land where might makes right.
The executive boot on the neck of the Ondo State judiciary is a clear and present danger to the social contract. Every day the court gates remain padlocked is another day the rule of law is replaced by the rule of the mob.”
The workers called on the Aiyedatiwa-led Ondo government to immediately implement full financial autonomy adding that the court “is not a political bargaining chip but a prerequisite for the survival of Ondo State.”
They further warned, “Whom the gods want to destroy, they first make mad. If one is thrusted to a lofty height, he should realise it is not by his power or might, he must not play God.
“The governor’s alleged squandering of state resources on unachievable political ambition and on his cronies to the neglect of several established government institutions is nothing short of crime against humanity and God.“
