Judiciary strike frustrates elections tribunal in Delta

The strike embarked upon by judiciary workers in Delta State on Monday stalled the proceedings at the Elections Petition Tribunal sitting in Asaba.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the tribunal failed to sit on arrival at the venue designated for it, as the premises had been locked by the workers, who were on strike.

The striking workers pasted notices around the courts stating that the action would last indefinitely in the state.

The Secretary of the tribunal, Deborah Musa, told NAN that the strike had paralysed activities in the tribunal.

“We arrived for work this morning and found the whole place locked up and we saw the notice that judiciary workers in the state are on an indefinite strike.

“I quickly rushed to look for the leaders of the workers and for more than one hour I begged them to come and open the premises so that we can evacuate our files and other items,” she said.

Asked where she would put the files, Mrs Musa said, “I don’t really know where I am taking them to.

You know, we don’t know anywhere or anybody here. Maybe I will put them in my hotel room in the meantime.”

Harmonised salary

When contacted, the Vice-Chairman of the Judiciary Workers Union of Nigeria (JUSUN), James Onanowe, said, “the workers want to be included in the harmonised public service salary.”

He said that the union resorted to strike when the state government failed to respond to its letter on the issue dated April 4.

He added that the decision to embark on the strike was taken by the union’s leadership on Friday, adding that “before we took that decision, we exhaustively deliberated on the matter.”