Magistrate slumps during protest over two-year salary arrears in Cross River

One out of the 30 magistrates who protested against the non-payment of their salaries in the last two years by Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River State, on Tuesday slumped at the entrance to the Governor’ Office in Calabar, the state capital.

His Lordship, Richard Bassey, slumped at the gate of the Governor’s Office when he joined his fellow magistrates in the protest which Chief Magistrate Safiya Iyeh Ashipu of Odukpani started as a lone protest on Monday alongside her two sons.

Bassey’s colleagues quickly came to his rescue by pouring water on him in order to revive him and were joined by some civil servants at the Government House.

One of the people who witnessed the protest, Godwin Effiom, described the parlous conditions of the law officers as shameful, especially, when the state’s Deputy Governor, Prof. Ivara Esu, drove past the protesting magistrates without stopping to help.

“It surprises me about the kind of leaders we have these days because a deputy governor of a state can pass through the gate of the Governor’s Office seeing a large crowd trying to revive a victim, and he drove past. It’s unfortunate,” Effiom quipped

It would be recalled that Chief Magistrate Safiya Iyeh Ashipu from Odukpani Magisterial Division, on Monday, together with her two children staged a mild protest in front of the Cross River State Governor’s Office over the non-payment of two years salary.

Ashikpu had attributed her desire to lead the protest to her inability to meet up with her rent payment as well as the educational and medical bills of her two children as a single mother.

While the Special Assistant to Governor Ayade on Media, Christian Ita, responded on Monday that the magistrates’ employment status are irregular, Nigerian Tribune gathered that the State Attorney General, Tanko Ashang, paid the sum of N210, 000 as part payment of the outstanding rent for Ashikpu.

Nigerian Tribune source added that the N210, 000 was the attorney general’s personal money and not fund from the Cross River Government treasury.

The protesting magistrates were donned in their full regalia as they carried placards with various inscriptions depicting their anguish over the non-payment of their two years salary.

Government activities were disrupted at the Government House as the protesters blocked the entire entrance to the Governor’s Office.

The protest by the Cross River State Magistrate is novel in the history of government and judiciary workers crisis in Nigeria.

YOU SHOULD NOT MISS THESE HEADLINES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE

Pollution, Deforestation: How Ignorance, Unclear Environmental Policies Influence Booming Fish Smoking Industry

Rays of the afternoon sun pelted her head as she fanned the embers beneath the half-cut iron drum with the smoke permeating the air. “This smoke is unbearable, Iya Maria,” said one of the three neighbours conversing under a makeshift shed about five meters away. Their voices rose and fell intermittently…

Selfies, video calls and Chinese documentaries: The things you’ll meet onboard Lagos-Ibadan train

The Lagos-Ibadan railway was inaugurated recently for a full paid operation by the Nigerian Railway Corporation after about a year of free test-run. JUSTICE NWAFOR joined the train to and fro Lagos from Ibadan and tells his experience in this report…