Supreme Court in Abuja: shut

The Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) on Tuesday urged its members to sustain the ongoing strike until their demand for financial autonomy was granted by government.

Mr Ahmed Bello, the National Vice President (North East Zone) of the union, made this position known to newsmen in Gombe.

He said this would help the union to uphold the financial autonomy of the judicial system in the country as declared by the court.

“This judgment was obtained January 2014; all efforts had being put in place to see that this strike does not take place and there is nothing we can do.

“At least we gave the stakeholders all the necessary space for them to see that they implemented what the court has said, but nobody appealed,” said the union leader.

Bello said that JUSUN had obtained judgment on the interpretation of Section 83, sub-section 3, as well as on Section 121, sub-section 3, which declared that constitutionally judiciary must be financially independent.

He stated that the strike was not based on the issues of welfare but on absolute financial autonomy for the system.

Bello said that they want the system to be free from interference to enable the judiciary perform its function fearlessly.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that in compliance with the strike all courts in the state remained closed.