The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has applied for a National Industrial Court order to commit the striking workers of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) to prison over their alleged disobedience of the court order.
Wike’s alleged disobedience by the workers arose from resumption of their strike despite an order of the court issued on January 27, stopping the strike until the determination of the suit instituted against them by the FCT Minister.
The FCT Minister has obtained Form 48, a legal document of the court, which spells out the consequences of violating the order of court, to be served on the striking workers.
Form 48 was obtained by his Counsel and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Ogwu Onoja, on behalf of Wike, to compel the workers to obey the court order or be committed to jail as stipulated by law.
The form 48 is titled “Notice of Consequence of disobedience of order of Court” and would be followed with contempt charges.
It reads, “Take note that unless you obey the directions contained in the order of Honourable Justice E. D Sublimi of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria delivered 27th day of January 2026, you will be guilty of contempt of court and will be liable to be committed to prison “.
The notice of ‘Consequence of Disobedience of Order of Court’ dated January 29 was signed by the Registrar of the Industrial Court, Olajide Balogun.
Justice Emmanuel Sublimi of the National Industrial Court had on January 27 ordered workers of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) to suspend their industrial action pending the hearing and determination of the originating summons issued against them by the FCT Minister.
The order of the Judge followed an application by the FCT Minister through Ogwu James Onoja (SAN) in which he sought an order of court compelling the striking FCTA workers to return to work.
In the suit, the FCT Minister had listed the President and the Secretary of the Joint Union Action Congress (JUAC), Rifkatu Iortyer and Abdullahi Umar Saleh, as respondents.
Justice Subilim had held that industrial action, including strikes, must be suspended once a dispute has been referred to the National Industrial Court.
Citing Section 18(1)E of the Trade Dispute Act, the court had noted that the suspension ensured the dispute was properly resolved, and that ongoing strikes must halt upon the commencement of a suit by originating summons, which constitutes a referral.
The judge had further stated that failure to comply with Section 18 of the Act may attract sanctions.
He emphasised that the public interest in maintaining industrial peace outweighs any inconvenience caused by suspending the strike.
Although the striking workers predicated their resumption on the notice of appeal filed at the Court of Appeal against the ruling of Justice Sublimi, Wike’s legal team rejected the claim.
The legal team of Onoja SAN maintained that unless there is an express order of court staying the execution of Industrial Court ruling, the workers have no basis not to resume the strike and advised them to be law-abiding citizens avoid incurring the wrath of court.
According to the senior lawyer in the court papers, “Court orders are not made in vain. They are made to be obeyed for sanity to prevail in the society”.
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