The judgment of the Ogun State National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal was, on Wednesday, stalled following the two-day warning strike embarked upon by the Nigeria Labour Congress.
The NLC monitoring team in Sokoto State, similarly, shut down some banks and businesses in the state for non-compliance with the directive of the national leadership of the union to join the warning strike.
Also, customers of the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company were thrown into darkness as the company blamed the outage on the NLC strike.
The tribunal in Ogun State had to postpone its sitting to Thursday (today).
The tribunal was to give its verdict on the petition between Senator Adeola Olamilekan of the All Progressives Congress representing Ogun West and the Peoples Democratic Party candidate in the February 25 National Assembly election, Dada Adeleke.
The NLC had declared a warning strike over the effects of the subsidy removed from the petroleum products which has since increased pump price per litre to N600 with corresponding increase in prices of commodities.
Leaders of the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria had locked the gate of the Magistrates’ Court at Isabo, Abeokuta, the venue of the tribunal’s sitting, in compliance with the ongoing two-day warning strike called by the NLC.
The National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal in its notice of judgement had fixed Wednesday, September 6, 2023, to deliver her verdict in Adeleke’s petition against Senator Olamilekan’s victory.
The petition marked EPT/OG/Sen/2023 was filed by the PDP candidate, Adeleke.
Speaking to journalists, the Chairman of JUSUN, Comrade Olanrewaju Ajiboye, said judicial workers locked the gate in compliance with the national body’s directive on the two-day warning strike.
“The tribunal is expected to sit today, but they (judges) are unable to sit because we have locked the gate of the court in compliance with the directive of the NLC national body. This is why the tribunal cannot sit today (Wednesday),” he said.
When asked if he was aware that the election tribunal’s proceeding is time-bound, Ajiboye responded, “We can’t throw the gate open and allow the tribunal to sit; that will mean we intentionally sabotage the struggle of the workers most especially the judicial workers.
“The tribunal has the right to sit anywhere, but this is our own premises, we can always close it as directed by the national body of the union.”
Speaking with our correspondent on the postponement of the delivery of the judgment by the tribunal, the Secretary of the PDP, Ogun State, Dr Sunday Solarin, said, “We are not actually perturbed, the tribunal might have not been able to help the situation due to the strike called by the NLC on a subject matter that affects all of us.
“What is more important is for the rule of law to be upheld and justice to be served whenever the tribunal reconvenes which is Thursday (today), as I learnt. We are trusting God for victory in all of these.”
The Publicity Secretary of the APC in the state, Tunde Oladunjoye, who also spoke with newsmen, said, “We have no issues as the reason is well known and valid. We will await a new date.”
Meanwhile, in Sokoto State, as part of its effort to ensure compliance with the warning strike declared by the national headquarters, the monitoring team of the NLC closed some banks and other offices open for business on Tuesday.
The leader of the monitoring team who spoke with our correspondent, Comrade Hamisu Yanduna, said the team went out to monitor the level of compliance.
Yanduna, who is the state secretary of the NLC, said the team had to embark on the exercise when it got information that some of the banks in the state metropolis did not observe the strike.
“We decided to embark on this exercise for the second day running to ensure the warning strike is complied with by all affiliates in the state.
“We got the information that some of the banks, including Polaris Bank, which we just closed now, opened for business and we decided to do the needful by picketing some of the affected banks and government offices within the metropolis.”
Speaking on why some of the state government officials were seen at the state secretariat, the secretary of the labour union said those in the secretariat were part of the team inaugurated to celebrate 100 days in office of the governor.
“Those people you see at the secretariat are not working, they are part of the team working on the forthcoming celebration of 100 days in office of the state governor, Ahmed Sokoto.
“I can tell you that the level of compliance in Sokoto State as of this afternoon is about 80 per cent, which I believe is a pass mark.”
While commending all members of the union and its affiliates in the state, Yanduna disclosed that the state chapter of the Trade Union Congress did not participate in the strike action.
In Enugu State, the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company says the ongoing warning strike embarked upon by organised labour is responsible for the current power outage being experienced in the part of its franchise.
The company said the NLC’s two-day warning strike had resulted in the shutdown of the Transmission Company of Nigeria stations feeding its Injection Substations within some parts of the South-East.
The Head of Corporate Communications, EEDC, Mr Emeka Ezeh, made this known in a statement in Enugu on Wednesday.
Ezeh confirmed that the affected TCN stations included, New Haven, Ohiya, and Egbu transmission stations.
According to him, the development affected the supply to customers of EEDC under Ogui, Abakpa, Umuahia, Owerri, New Owerri, Orlu, and Mbaise districts, feeding from the affected TCN stations.
“We shall continue to monitor events and provide timely updates as they affect our operations and service to our customers.
“We are mindful of the inconveniences this situation has caused our esteemed customers and plead for their understanding,” he added.
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