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| Court of Appeal, Abuja |
According to a security personnel at the entrance, they were directed by the court’s President, Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem, to lock the entrance gate to prevent staff who reported to work late, from accessing the court premises with their vehicles.
This punishment per say, has resulted to the affected staff, including some directors, parking their vehicles on the court’s main entrance gate, creating a car queue to the major road leading to the Federal Secretariat and the Force headquarters, thereby affecting normal traffic flow.
According to further reports, Justice Dongban-Mensem’s directive was pressured when she discovered that majority of the staff were not in their offices, while some were just strolling in after the official resumption period.
According to an unnamed court official;
“My lord (the President) went round some of the offices this morning and found out that they were all empty.
“Most staff are in the habit of coming late, while some have even said they will resume by next year.
“So, she directed the security personnel to lock the gate so that those coming late would not be allowed to enter with their vehicles.
“Even staff buses are affected. You can see they are all packed outside.
“We are, however, not sure what penalties would be visited on the erring staff at the end of the day,” an official of the court, who pleaded not to be named".