Some litigants in Benue on Tuesday cried out against the effect of judiciary workers strike on them and their families.

Speaking to the News Agency of Nigeria in Makurdi on behalf of the litigants, Benue lawyers lamented that most of their clients especially the ones in detention had started wondering if they could ever be free.

NAN reports that the nationwide strike by the Judicial Staff Union of Nigeria over financial autonomy, among other demands, is already in its second week.

The lawyers said most of the detained persons, whose cases are on the awaiting trial list, had resigned themselves to fate over their predicaments.

The Chairman of the Nigeria bar Association, Makurdi Chapter, Mr Mike Assoh, appealed to the states and federal government as well as JUSUN to resolve all the issues in dispute to cushion the effects of the strike.
He said that it had become necessary to mitigate the effects of the strike on litigants and their families as well as on members of the general public.

Mr Edwin Ikyorve, said some of his clients, who should have been on bail if the courts had been in session, were still in detention.

“Imagine how a person who had been promised that he would be released after a court sitting will feel still being held in detention and with no hope of when the problem will end,” Ikyorve said.

Another lawyer, Mr Titus Hyundu, pointed out that the psychological effects of the strike on his clients were unimaginable, adding that some of them had gone into a state of despondency.

Hyundu said even those who were on subpoena could not travel out freely because the strike could be called off any time.

He said such people know that they must appear as witnesses in court or face contempt charges.

Hyundu also said business had seriously been paralysed for so many people especially the subpoenas and lawyers as a result of the strike.