THE Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria, Ondo State branch, on Friday morning, commenced an indefinite strike, effectively grounding judicial activities across the state. Judges, lawyers, and litigants were denied access to court premises, bringing legal proceedings to a standstill.
According to reports, entrances to both the Akure Division of the State High Court and the Magistrates’ Court were firmly locked, stopping all operations within and around the complexes.
Ondo JUSUN chairman, Oluwafemi Afolabi, who confirmed the industrial action in a chat with journalists on Friday, said the seven-day ultimatum to the State Government was given a week ago.
“We have directed all our members to stay off duty starting from today, June 13, 2025, till further directive, and to adhere strictly to the industrial action guidelines,” Afolabi said.
According to him, the decision to paralyse activities in “all courts across the 18 local government areas of the state” was over the failure of the State Government to implement parts of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) granting financial autonomy to the state judiciary.
“Following this, all courts across the 18 LGAs have been shut down and would be affected by the strike,” he further said.
Last Wednesday, the judiciary workers issued a seven-day ultimatum to Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa to avert the strike by championing the immediate implementation of the MOU regarding the release of funds to the state judiciary in line with judiciary financial autonomy.
In a statement by the JUSUN Secretary, Kehinde Alade, to announce the strike action, the Union observed with regret the failure of the state government to implement the MOU.
“Regrettably, the state government has reneged on certain parts of the agreements outlined in the MOU.
“This continuous refusal by the state government to honor these agreements has had adverse effects on our members.
“Having waited aimlessly since 2015, we hereby issue a 7-calendar-day ultimatum to the government to honor the reneged parts of the agreements in the MOU within 7 calendar days upon receipt of a letter,” the statement reads.
Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General Kayode Ajulo could not be immediately reached for comment on Friday morning.
However, an aide close to Ajulo said a meeting held between the State Government and the JUSUN officials on Wednesday ended without any agreement or conclusion.
“The meeting ended in a deadlock because both the state government and the union could not come to a better agreement,” he said.