BENIN--MEMBERS of the Benin branch of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, yesterday marched through some major streets in Benin City, Edo State, protesting the three months old strike action by the state judicial workers.The protesting lawyers also demanded the immediate resignation of the state Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, the Permanent Secretary and Solicitor General of the state and all lawyers appointed to political positions in the state for failing to properly advice the state governor to comply with the rule of law.
The lawyers, who carried placards with offensive inscriptions, said the lingering strike action by the judicial workers in the state has adversely affected their economic wellbeing, noting that there cannot be a true democracy without an impartial and independent judiciary. Addressing journalists at the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, Secretariat in Benin, the state Chairman of the branch, Princess Patience Iyomon, stressed the need to comply with the constitutional provision granting financial autonomy to the judicial arm of government.The Benin NBA, according to her, condemns the continued refusal of the Edo State Government to comply with the court judgment reaffirming the constitutional provisions granting financial autonomy to the judicial arm of government. She condemned the continued refusal of the government to comply with the order of the court and meet the judicial workers' demand, adding that the threat to sack them even without meeting their demands was a violation of the international labour organisation's convention of which Nigeria is a signatory."The governor's action is also a violation of the workers right to life, having denied them their means of livelihood, for which an action will be brought against the governor of the state before the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court for crime against humanity and gross violation of human right," she said. Reacting to the Benin NBA's protest, the state Attorney General, Mr Henry Idahagbon, refuted the lawyers' claim, saying that the administration of Adams Oshiomhole had since complied with the court order, adding that financial autonomy to the judiciary had since been granted..