8th January, 2015
Kazeem Ugbodaga
Lagos Governor, Babatunde Fashola has begged the Judicial Staff Union of Nigeria, JUSUN, to call off its nationwide strike.
Fashola, who spoke at the commissioning of the Combined High Court and Magistrate Court House projects in Epe Local Government Area of Lagos, southwest Nigeria on Wednesday, said he made this plea in the interest of the masses who rely on the judiciary for fair judgment.
Also, the Commissioner for Justice, Ade Ipaye, who enumerated the impact of the nationwide strike, urged the federal government and JUSUN to resolve their issue in the best interest of the masses, saying the new Combined Court House was fully equipped with modern facilities to enhance justice delivery.
Commissioning the Combined Court House, Fashola named it after a former Chief Judge of the State, Justice Ligali Ayorinde, while emphasising that the only way to ensure continued delivery of dividends of democracy was to retain the ruling party in the state in the coming elections.
The governor told the audience, comprising eminent indigenes of Epe, traditional rulers, party chieftains and supporters as well as top government functionaries that the issue at stake was to vote for someone with the needed experience in the governance of the state and not someone who would experiment with the state.
“This is the season of elections; this is the season when you have to choose your leaders; my tenure ends in a matter of days and elections are upon us,” he said, urging those who had not collected their Permanent Voter’s Cards, PVCs, to do so immediately in preparation for the coming elections.
He said it would help them to make the right choices, saying that “as far as I am concerned, this is a matter of experience; it is not a matter of experiment. For me, when you look at both sides of the divide today, most of the ills that bedevil the nation today are caused by mismanagement by the Federal Government.”
Fashola pointed out that lack of regular electricity and the insecurity across the country were also as a result of mismanagement by the same government.
“The only way you can change a government that you do not like legally is by the ballot box. What is upon us today is monumental and topical. If we all agree that the government is bad, this is the first time in the history of our nation that we will have the right and the opportunity to change that government by ourselves,” he said.
He recalled that in the past, there were governments the people said were not good but that it was the military that changed them, adding that now that democracy had come, the onus of changing a bad government fell on the civil population who must use this opportunity to exercise their power to install government of their choice.
“This is our biggest opportunity to take the power in our hands and declare with pride that we changed this government. And we will change another government if we elect them and they do not do well; and that is when democracy would have come full circle because then power would be in the hands of the people,” Fashola said, adding that Ghanaians did the same when they had the opportunity by voting to install a government of their choice.
The governor said the hand over of the Court House was to bring access to justice closer to the people of Epe, to reduce cost of obtaining justice and also to bring public service employment to the grassroots.
Fashola stated that people have to be employed if the administration and dispensation of justice must take place in the new Court House, while urging the people to continue to pay their taxes as contribution to the commonwealth for a common prosperity.
“This is what we have done with your money. If you must enjoy a common prosperity, you must contribute to the common wealth. This is not oil money or money missing. This is money that you can eye-mark. You can see what we have done and we will continue to do it in the tradition that demonstrates how committed we are to matters that concern the people,” he said, adding that the Court House in Badagry and in Ikeja had been completed and ready for commissioning.