Magistrates reject CJ’s pleas, continue strike

By Abdulwahab Abdulah
Efforts by the Lagos State Chief Judge, Justice Inumidun Akande to lure striking Magistrates back to work, this week is yet to yield result as the Magistrates have insisted on continuing the strike until their demands are met.

It was gathered that the Chief Judge was only appealing to the striking Magistrates to call off the strike, with a promise to finding solutions to their grievances.

It was also gathered that moment after the meeting with the CJ, the Magistrates converged on Magistrate Court 1, Ikeja, where they put their decision on whether or not to suspend the strike to vote.

At the end of the debate, it was reliably gathered that only 10 Magistrates voted for the suspension of the strike while 60 backed the continuation of the industrial action.

The Magistrates’ strike is already taking its toll on the polity with complaints by the police over their inability to arraign suspects in court. It was gathered that cases are being settled behind the police counter by complainants and suspects at the police stations since there is no court to handle new arraignment of suspects, popularly referred to as “overnight cases.”

Speaking on the issue, the Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Mr. Frank Mba, said the state police command had fashioned an interim strategy to ameliorate the effects of the strike. The police “now settle some cases between the complainant and the suspect, especially, those that fall within our capacity and the law,” he said.