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From Lateef Dada, Osogbo
A civil society coalition, The Osun Masterminds (TOM), has lamented the continuous closure of courts in Osun State over the strike embarked upon by the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN).
The group condemned the attitude of the government to the protracted strike, lamenting that the government has been paying salaries of the striking workers and looking away from the suffering innocents in the correctional centers.
The Executive Director, TOM, Prof Wasiu Oyedokun-Alli, at a monthly State of the State address in Osogbo, on Tuesday, described the strike as “mindless and antithetical to the maintenance of law and order, as well as true dispensal of justice in the State.
“It is further instructive that the Osun State Government has been acting nonchalant about the continued closure of the Courts. Where a Government is not tactically encouraging an industrial action, it will be seen making efforts to resolve all issues that may have led to the industrial action in the first place. The Osun State Government has however remained silent, continued to pay judicial workers’ salaries, and looking away from the current total paralysis of the courts in the State.
“We should remind the Osun Government that while the justice system is already a very important arm of a government, the courts serve more purpose than that. There are people whose livelihoods rely on the courts. There are small businesses that survive on the activities of the courts. More importantly, there are innocent people awaiting trial, who have been left to languish in prison because some people are using their lives to settle scores.
“The State Government must, not minding that it got its ego bruised in its attempt to remove the Chief Judge, immediately make efforts to get the strike in the State’s Judiciary called off. We cannot paralyze a whole arm of government because we need to prove a point.
“As a group, we will not hesitate to drag the gladiators in the judicial battle before competent courts in the land if the strike persists any further. We advise that all concerned act now with utmost responsibility and respect for the oath they all swore.”
The group also called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to immediately give marching orders to the fiscal policy stakeholders in the country to map out ways to stop the slide of the Naira immediately and work assiduously to boost its value through stimulation of local production and promotion of exportation.
Similarly, the group advised the Federal Government to give immediate charge to anti-graft agencies to take a look at the books of the States as a matter of urgency, in a bid to end the looting and diversion of public funds that has become widespread.
It lamented rising cases of insecurity and also cautioned the government of Osun to tread softly on the issue of traditional rulers.
