Christian lawyers in the country have lamented over the prolonged strike action by the Judicial Staff Union of Nigeria, JUSUN, in some parts of the country saying that the action had become ‘’a clog in the wheel of development of democracy.’’
The Christian Lawyers Fellowship of Nigeria, CLASFON, made this known in a communiqué at the end of its President in Council, PIC, meeting in Benin City, Edo State but released to newsmen in Kaduna, yesterday.
Some state chapters of JUSUN had embarked on strike since January this year, following the failure of their various state governments to comply with the provisions of the constitution which provided for financial autonomy for the Judiciary.
CLASFON appealed to the state governments concerned to resolve the issues in dispute to enable the Judiciary to perform its constitutional functions.
The communiqué which was jointly signed by the National President of CLASFON, Mr. Alozie Echeonwu and the Secretary General, Dr. Bukola Akinola stated that the prolonged strike had caused untold hardship to legal practitioners as well as denied litigants justice.
The communiqué read in part, “CLASFON condemns in strong terms the continued closure of courts in most states of the federation arising from the failure of government of those state governments to comply with the constitutional provision on the financial autonomy and independence of the Judiciary even after a subsisting court judgement.
“This state of affairs; rendering an important arm of government non functional is not good for democracy and we call on the state governments concerned to respect the provisions of the constitution and the decision of the court so as to bring an end to the prolonged strike which has impacted negatively on dispensation of justice.”
