Nigeria Content Online

An Oyo State High
Court will today, give verdict on the suit filed by 11 retired judges
of the state high court against the state government over its refusal
to pay their gratuity severances.

The judge, Muktar
Ladi Abimbola fixed the date after counsels to parties in the matter
adopted their briefs in court on Wednesday.

The claimants
comprise of three Chief Judges, two acting Chief Judges and six other
retired judges, who served in the state’s judiciary before retirement.

They accused the
governor, Adebayo Alao Akala and the state Attorney-General, also
joined in the suit, of consciously denying them the right to their
lawful entitlements in contravention of provisions of the 1999
constitution, Certain Political Public and Judicial Office Holder
(Salaries and Allowances) Act 2002 and the amended Act 2008.

They wanted the
court to determine whether the state has the right to withhold their
pay after working for it before retiring meritoriously.

At its sitting last
week Tuesday, the court adjourned till yesterday for definite hearing
to allow counsel to the litigants respond to fresh processes that arose.

But the
government’s lawyer, Abdulahi Olawale, a principal legal officer in the
state ministry of justice, almost swayed the sitting as he sought
another adjournment to allow the state government find out from Abuja,
if it indeed, is its responsibility to pay the retired judges.

The government, in
a counter-affidavit to an application from the retired judicial
officers, posited that it is not the responsibility of the state
government to pay.

That was also the
line of argument of Mr Olawale on Wednesday when he rose to adopt its
defence to the applications from the claimants.

Reacting to the
many evidences of payment from some sister states in the country and
the correspondences from the National Judicial Council (NJC) directing
that retired justices from states high courts receive their severance
pay from the respective states where they served, the government’s
counsel said the law was not really specific on the matter.

The claimants
attached the documents to their applications to reinforce their
argument and establish the extent they have gone to guide the state
government appropriately.

Lasun Sanusi
(SAN), who represented the retired judges, however, did not see any
sense in the government’s arguments, liking it to a scenario where a
man is directing someone who works for him to go and get the pay from
his father.

Sue the federal government

He was reacting to
the argument that since the law permits Revenue Mobilisation And Fiscal
Allocation Commission to remove salaries and allowances of serving
judicial officers from source before their employers get their
allocations, the government expects that such will be applicable to the
severance gratuities.

The state
government also contended that the claimants sued the wrong persons by
dragging the governor and the state Attorney-General before the court
over the matter.

It said they
should have sued the NJC and the state Chief Judge instead, as
according to the lawyer, it is the NJC that directed the payment and
the directives were addressed to heads of courts across the federation.

Besides, the government wants the court to decline jurisdiction over the matter.

Responding, Mr.
Sanusi said the government had all the evidence to make it admit
liability to pay the money but chose to ignore the available facts.

He described the
government’s objections to the claimants’ submission as frivolous,
misconceived, unreasonable, unmeritorious and absurd, asking the court
to set it aside and allow the applicants’ processes to stand.

The judge will be giving his judgement today (Thursday).