In response to Mr. Mutalubi Adebayo, SAN, a lawyer located in Ibadan, the Osun State administration has asked him to desist from pursuing legal action against Governor Ademola Adeleke and the administration over the unpaid allowances of judges employed in the state, calling on the lawyer to refrain from “interloping activism.”
Adeleke was given a 10-day ultimatum by Adebayo on Thursday to pay the arrears of allowances owing to retired and active state judges, failing which the state will take legal action.
If Adeleke refuses to comply with the request by September 30, legal action to compel him to pay up would begin in a court of competent jurisdiction on October 3. Adebayo made this declaration in a statement dated Thursday, September 21, which he personally signed and which our correspondent in Osogbo got.
In addition to the backlog of unpaid allowances, the attorney—who acknowledged writing the statement—also stated in a message to our reporter that he would be claiming interest and aggravated damages for the unpaid entitlements.
“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 to 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..”
The government of Osun State’s actions in refusing to pay those outstanding allowances throughout the years amount to simple callousness, recklessness, disdain for the rule of law, indecency, and unfairness. Therefore, take further notice that I will also be claiming interest and aggravated damages in respect of those unpaid allowances.
Adebayo’s move, however, was interpreted by the government as “meddlesomeness, misrepresentation, and misinterpretation of employment relationship between employees and the employer” in a statement issued in response, according to Olawale Rasheed, the governor’s spokesperson.
While the state government would not immediately link Adebayo’s threat of legal action to the politicization of service problems, it did remind the public that the lawyer had confirmed that the Aregbesola/Oyetola administrations were responsible for the allowances.
We can add for him that the Adeleke administration inherited a staggering wage, pension, and employment related debt to the tune of 100 billion naira from the two previous governments of the All Progressive Congress, according to a portion of the statement that read. Outside of that, the state owes more than 400 billion naira. Notwithstanding the financial crunch and equally conflicting requests for state spending, the Adeleke administration has nevertheless started paying down such salary and pension debt.
We must, therefore, implore the attorney to refrain from obtrusive and invasive activism. Since we don’t think he is politically recruited, he ought to choose a more honorable path instead of taking on the role of arbitrator in labor disputes, which belong to the unions and their employers.
“Since we believe the attorney means well, he can turn his threat into a request to the state governor to carry on with his ongoing, gradual payment of unpaid debts from past administrations. In addition, he might praise the governor for representing all Osun residents by coming up with plans to finish abandoned projects and pay off debt gradually.
