The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Barrister Nyesom Wike, has petitioned the National Industrial Court to order the imprisonment of striking workers of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) for allegedly defying a court order.
The disobedience to order of court 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.
To demonstrate his opposition against the workers for treating order of the Industrial Court with levity, the FCT Minister has obtained form 48, a legal document of court, which spelt out the consequences of violating order of court, to be served on the striking workers.
The form 48 was obtained by a legal luminary, Dr Ogwu James Onoja, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) of the Bar and Bench Chambers in Abuja on behalf of Wike to compel the workers to obey order of court 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 the 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, Mr Olajide Balogun.
Justice Emmanuel Danjuma 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 emphasized that the public interest in maintaining industrial peace outweighs any inconvenience caused by suspending the strike.
However, four days after the order of the court was served on them, the workers have yet to respect or obey it.
Although the striking workers predicated their resumption of strike 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 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”.
It will be recalled that after granting the restraining order against the strike action, Justice Sublimi adjourned the substantive matter to March 25, 2026, for hearing.
The workers of the Federal Capital Territory Administration and the Federal Capital Development Authority had on January 19 commenced an industrial action, shutting down activities across Abuja, over what they described as “unmet demands” by the Federal Government.
The strike affected all FCTA Secretariats, Departments, agencies, Area Councils and parastatals under FCTA.
