UPDATED: Lagos State Magistrates Begin Strike

LAGOS, May 19, (THEWILL) – THEWILL can authoritatively report that Magistrates in the Lagos State Judiciary have commenced an indefinite strike.

Few days after it suspended its warning strike, Magistrate Association of Nigeria (MAN), Lagos Chapter, today began an indefinite strike over what it ascribed to be the failure of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) to meet its demands and address its grievance.

In a statement dated May 19 and signed by Chairperson of the association, Mrs. Adesola Ikpatt and its Secretary-General, Mrs. Kehinde Ogundare, the association said it resolved to remain off the bench until the action before the court is settled.

After a meeting held in Yaba area of Lagos till 3.05 p.m., the association issued a resolution which read thus:

"Today, our demands having not been met, we hereby embark on an indefinite strike pending the resolution of the suit challenging the validity of the Magistrates’ Court Law of Lagos State (2009)."

As it observed in its resolution, the association said its decision stemmed from difficulties its members are confronting in discharging their constitutional responsibilities of justice dispensation and adjudication since the 2009 magistrate was suspended.

The association explained a Lagos High Court presided over by Justice Ishiatu Opesanya suspended the 2009 magistrate law and ordered reversal to the 2003 magistrate law, which was repealed before the state House of Assembly enacted the 2009 law.

The association said it obeyed the court injunction and returned to work, but counsels "have been challenging the jurisdiction of the magistrate courts arising from the vacuum the suspension of the 2009 magistrate law and abrogation of the 2003 law created."

It added: "The court had suspended the 2009 magistrate court law. When the law came to force, the 2003 magistrate court law became defunct. And there is no law or act that says we can use a repealed law to discharge our responsibilities. We have not heard of any.

"The provision in Section 4 of the Interpretation Law of Lagos State is totally different. The section stipulates that a repealed law can be used to dispense justice if there is a new one in the making. But this is not the case. We have a case of a repealed law and suspended law.  Now, technically, there is no magistrate court law," it said.

The association therefore urged the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) to duly observe the constitutional amendment procedures and resolve the court action challenging the validity of the Magistrate Court Law (2009) in order to address the crisis.

The magistrates had decried collapse of infrastructure, poor welfare and lack of working tools currently plaguing all the magistrate courts in the state, thereby demanding for an improved working environment as part of condition it set to call off its strike.  

During its visit to Yaba and Ejigbo Magistrate Courts, THEWILL observed that magistrates are made to discharge their constitutional responsibilities under severe and unbearable heat conditions, coupled with unavailability of electricity and generating sets.

Our correspondent also noticed rickety furniture, cracked walls, caved-in ceilings, broken doors, bushy environment, absolute power outage and water-draped step cases, which make the magistrate court rooms inhabitable, unbearable and unfriendly.

In an interview with a magistrate who plead anonymity, said: "To worsen the situation, most of the chambers lack windows and toilet facilities. Magistrates are compelled to work under very dirty and unhygienic conditions, which constitute threats to their health."

"Recently, a magistrate suffered a severe stroke and his family and friends had to put resources together for his treatment abroad. There is no medical package for magistrates and their remuneration does not allow for the attention their health often requires due to hazardous working conditions to which they are exposed," he said.