The National Assembly Election Petition sitting in Abeokuta, the Ogun state capital, on Wednesday, September 6, failed to sit to deliver its judgement in respect of the senatorial election petition marked EPT/OG/Sen/2023 for Ogun West Senatorial district after the striking judicial workers locked tribunal members out.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had on February 25, declared Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola popularly called YAYI as the winner but the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) senatorial candidate, Dada Ganiu Adeleke, approached the Tribunal with a petition challenging the victory of Adeola, who is the All Progressives Congress (APC) Senator and Senate Committee Chairman on Appropriation
The Tribunal in its notice of judgement had fixed Wednesday, September 6, to deliver its verdict in Adeleke’s petition against Senator Adeola YAYI’s victory but the judiciary workers under the aegis of Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) locked the gate of the Magistrates’ Court at Isabo, Abeokuta, venue of the tribunal’s sitting, preventing the judges from convening.
The strike which began on Tuesday, September 5, was in compliance with the two-day warning strike called by the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) in protest against the removal of fuel subsidy.
The newsmen visited the Isabo Magistrate Court and observed that the place was locked with keys to prevent judges, litigants and counsel access to the facility.
A guard at the gate told our reporter that the tribunal was expected to sit on Wednesday but the judges were unable to sit because the judicial workers had locked the gate of the Court in compliance with the directive of the NLC national body.