Judicial officers in Ondo State have escalated their indefinite strike, accusing Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa and his Commissioner for Finance, Mrs. Omowumi Isaac, of sabotaging judicial welfare and strangling the justice system through delayed funding and partial financial autonomy.
The strike, which began on January 5, has paralysed courts across the state, with magistrates, presidents of Grade ‘A’ Customary Courts, legal research officers, and members of the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) shutting down judicial activities throughout the state.
Court gates remain locked statewide, halting hearings and leaving litigants and detainees stranded.
Judicial officers say their anger is now squarely directed at the finance commissioner, whom they accuse of routinely blocking welfare-related payments despite approvals from the governor.
“Most approvals by the governor are turned down by the commissioner for finance,” a senior judicial source told reporters.
“She refused to release money approved since December 2024 for the purchase of cars for magistrates,” a source said.
The source added that even statutory entitlements have been mishandled. “Judges’ annual vacation allowance for 2025 was paid only in the last week of the vacation,” the source added.
In unusually blunt remarks, the officers questioned who truly runs Ondo State.
“The governor appears to be at the mercy of the commissioner for finance. We don’t know who the boss is,” the source said.
The crisis is rooted in what judicial workers describe as the government’s refusal to implement full financial autonomy for the judiciary, despite constitutional guarantees.
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The prolonged delays in releasing funds have worsened welfare conditions and crippled court operations.
Budget figures have further inflamed tensions. Judicial officers say the judiciary’s proposed budget was slashed from ₦17 billion to ₦9.5 billion for 2026, an almost 45 percent cut they warn will devastate court services.
They also rejected the governor’s offer of “80 percent autonomy,” limited to recurrent expenditure, excluding capital projects.
Workers say the arrangement could lead to salary cuts of up to 20 per cent in 2026 while leaving decaying infrastructure untouched.
“This is not autonomy; it is slow suffocation,” a senior judicial officer said. “You cannot cut our budget, deny capital funding, and still claim to respect judicial independence.”
Conditions in court facilities across the state paint a grim picture.
Many courtrooms reportedly leak during rainfall, forcing judges to suspend sittings as water floods the halls.
Lawyers and litigants describe frantic scenes where files are rushed out of courtrooms turned into “swimming pools.”
Magistrates and presidents of Grade ‘A’ Customary Courts are said to commute on commercial motorcycles due to the absence of official vehicles.
In some cases, judicial officers reportedly share rides with litigants and criminal suspects, an arrangement widely viewed as unsafe and degrading.
High Court judges, meanwhile, are said to rely on ageing official vehicles, some over six years old, with requests for replacement or repairs allegedly ignored since 2024.
Judicial sources also accuse the finance commissioner of refusing to release ₦400 million approved by the governor since 2024 for judicial needs.
“The commissioner is defying the approval, and the governor appears helpless,” a source said.
A recent meeting between Gov. Aiyedatiwa and judicial unions ended in deadlock, with workers rejecting what they called empty promises.
“Our position was clear: no financial autonomy, no work,” a judicial source said.
