Osun Judiciary Workers Tackles National, Says Strike Continues

The leadership of the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria in Osun State have tackled the union’s national body over its directive for the suspension of the ongoing strike in the state.

It would be recalled that the National body of the union in a circular signed by its Deputy President, Emmanuel Abioye, had directed that under no guise should any of its members participate in any “illegal picketing, protest or job boycotting whatsoever”.

But responding, the state chairman of the union, Gbenga Eludire, in a telephone interview, said the priority of a union ought to be how to fight for its members, adding that that was what the union was doing in the state.

Eludire who noted that the union was not fighting the state Chief Judge, said they were only asking for their rights.

He said, “It caught me by surprise because this is a union and we all know that the common slogan in Unionism is that ‘an injury to one is an injury to all’. Let’s first look at our demands from this perspective; are we demanding for our personal self or the generality of our people? And I think that should be the priority of a formidable union.

“The strike is still on till further directive. We are not fighting the Chief Judge. We are only demanding our right from her and she has never come out bold to say all we are saying are lies.

“It is on this note that whatever the national may be saying against us, calling us all sorts of names is nothing anybody should reckon with.

“We have not done anything contrary to law. There may be a technician hitch among us, maybe some necessary papers that we ought to have tendered to the national were not tendered but we believe that a drastic issue deserves drastic actions and that is why you see us in that condition.

“As at yesterday, the Conference of Judges approached us for a dialogue and we have open room for that. We can’t resolve issues without dialogue. When there is no meeting point, there can not be a rallying point.

“So, we are trying to see what we can get from that by coming together and see the possibility of resolving the issue without further delay.”