By Gabriel Enogholase

BENIN—A Benin-based lawyer,  Mr. Olayiwola Afolabi has called for the resignation of the Edo State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Henry Idahagbon, over the inability of the state government to pay eight months salary arrears of judiciary workers in the state.

He also said that Magistrates were being owed three months arrears of salaries.

He called for autonomy for the Judiciary in Edo State to enable that arm of government to function effectively as in Anambra and Delta States whose judiciary enjoy autonomy.

Afolabi, who yesterday in Benin, staged a one-man protest over the issue, carpeted the Edo State chapter of the Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, for claiming that the state government was not owing any of its civil servants.

He said, “I am calling on the Attorney General of Edo State and all legal practitioners in the state government’s employment to resign their positions because the governmrnt has failed workers in the area of salaries, especially during the Christmas and New Year.

“In fact, a woman attached to High Court 4, simply called Justina, died because she could not afford to pay her medical bills. I call on the AG to resign from office because this is the first time in the history of the state that judiciary workers are being owed and nobody is saying anything.”