The reinstatement of the sacked Chief Judge of Kwara State, Justice Raliat Habeeb-Elelu, by the Supreme Court has taken a new twist as judiciary workers in the state, under the aegis of the Judiciary Staff Workers Union of Nigeria, JUSUN, are bent on scuttling the apex court's order.

Two weeks ago, the Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the Federal High Court sitting in Ilorin, declaring Justice Habeeb-Elelu's removal as the state CJ as illegal, unconstitutional, null and void.

But the state chapter of JUSUN, upon hearing of the apex court's pronouncement, made good its threat to embark on a week-long warning strike last Monday, putting all the offices and gates of the Judiciary under lock, and vowing to embark on an indefinite strike at the expiration of the warning strike if the National Judicial Council, NJC, fails to set aside the Supreme Court's ruling.

How this request would be met remains a big puzzle because, according to an Ilorin-based senior advocate, Mr. John Bayeshea, the Supreme Court's decision on any matter is final and must be obeyed so as not to give room for anarchy.

He said: "We don't know whose script the Judicial Staff Workers' Union is acting because the position of the High Court Judges, based on our interaction with them as senior members of the bar, is that the judgment of the Supreme Court, reinstating the CJ has to be obeyed and even the acting CJ, Justice Suleiman Durosinlohun Kawu, has removed his personal effects from the CJ's office and that is how it should be."

Speaking in the same vein, the Ilorin branch of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, in a statement jointly signed by its chairman, Rafiu Balogun and Secretary, Suleiman Abaya, condemned the industrial action currently embarked on by JUSUN, describing it as ill-timed and a stumbling block in the enforcement of the judgment of the Supreme Court.

On the position of the state government on the judgment, the state Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Kamaldeen Ajibade, said the administration of Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed, as a respecter of rule and law, would not by any means encourage the flouting or outright disobedience of the judgment of the apex court.

To confirm this, the Commissioner, while briefing journalists in Ilorin on the issue, said he had been directed by the governor to write to Justice Habeeb-Elelu to immediately resume office as the Chief Judge, saying the CJ's office had since been vacated by the occupant and has been available for her use as the substantive Chief Judge accordingly.

To Adegboyega Awomolo, counsel to Justice Habeeb-Elelu, the Supreme Court judgment is the triumph of law over sentiment and emotion as well as triumph of constitutionalism over arbitrariness and executive lawlessness.

On 5 May 2009, Senator Bukola Saraki, then governor of the state, wrote a letter to the state House of Assembly seeking the removal of Justice Raliat Habeeb-Elelu as the Chief Judge of the state for allegedly engaging in series of acts in contravention of the 1999 Constitution. The letter claimed that Habeeb-Elelu failed to remit unspent funds to government's account at the end of the financial year, particularly the fund approved and released as her travelling allowances for the World Jurists Association's 23rd biennial Congress in Ukraine which never held. Aside allegedly engaging in the appointment of some officers without recourse to the Judicial Commission statutorily empowered to do so, Habeeb-Elelu, the governor claimed, was incapacitated as leader to have a smooth administration of justice because of the internal crisis between her and other co-judges on one hand and judiciary workers on the other.