SAN Gives Adeleke 10-day Ultimatum To Pay Judges’ Allowances

• Kazeem Badmus

An Ibadan-based lawyer, Mutalubi Ojo Adebayo (SAN), has threatened legal action against the Osun State Government and the state Judicial Service Commission over the unpaid arrears of allowances owed to all Judicial Officers in the state.

The legal luminary in a notice signed by him and dated 21st day of September, a copy sighted by OSUN DEFENDER, declared his intention to commence legal actions, giving the government till September 30, 2023, to liquidate all the arrears.

Adebayo further states that he will claim interest and aggravated damages in respect of the unpaid allowances, saying the refusal of the state government to pay amounted to disregard for the rule of law.

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The notice reads, “This serves as a notice to the Governor, the Government and the Judicial Service Commission of Osun State of Nigeria that if all the arrears of allowances being owed all the Judicial Officers in the state ( both serving and retired) from the tenure of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola till date are not liquidated on or before the 30th day of September 2023.

“I, JCI Senator Mutalubi Ojo Adebayo, SAN, shall on the 3rd day of October, 2023 commence legal action in a court of competent jurisdiction to recover the full amount of the said unpaid allowances from the Government of Osun State and its Judicial Service Commission.

“TAKE further notice that, I will also claim interest and aggravated damages in respect of those unpaid allowances because the acts of the Government of Osun State in refusing to pay same over the years amount to sheer callousness, recklessness, disregard for rule of law, indecent and unfair.”

Reacting to the threat, the spokesperson to the Governor, Mallam Rasheed Olawale, said the lawyer’s action does not only amount to meddlesomeness but a misrepresentation and misinterpretation of employment relationship between employees and the employer.

Olawale, in a statement made available to OSUN DEFENDER, said judicial workers in the state have unions that can advance their interests if the need arises, advising the lawyer not to usurp the unions in their duties.

The statement read in part: “It is on record that the Adeleke administration ensures payment of salary as at when due and is also working to pay up inherited employment-related debt from the previous administrations.

“Many would wonder why the Ibadan lawyer did not sue those who created the mess while they were in office. We are even shocked that the barrister in question chooses to attack a Governor who is doing all within his powers to correct fundamental errors of the last 12 years and set the state on the path of sustainable growth.

“We must also put on record that Osun judicial workers have their unions and it is not in doubt that the union leadership is capable and able to advance the interest of their members. The Unions are also not unmindful of the inherited rot and ongoing efforts of the government to holistically address their issues.

“We are constrained to therefore urge the lawyer to avoid distractive and interloping activism. As we believe he is not politically recruited, he should adopt other dignifying route rather than usurping labour dispute question which only the unions and their employers can undertake.

“As we assume the lawyer has good intentions, he can rework his threat into an appeal to the State Governor to continue his ongoing phased payment of outstanding liabilities inherited from the previous administrations.”