A Magistrate and Deputy Chief Registrar (Litigation), working with Kogi State Judiciary , Mr. Zekery Aguye, died on Tuesday last week for his inability to pay hospital bill as a result of non payment of salary to Judicial staff in the last nine months.
Aguye died at the National Hospital, Abuja, where he was initially treated of prostrate cancer before he was forced to discontinue the treatment due to his inability to offset his medical bills.
Confirming the incident to newsmen in Lokoja on Tuesday, the Chief Registrar of Kogi State High Court, Barrister Yahaya Adamu, said the battle over Aguye’s illness started two years ago when he was diagnosed of the disease.
According to him, “The late Aguye was taken to the National Hospital where he was treated to the extent that he even started driving his car by himself, haven survived the critical period of the illness that also affected his spine.
“You see, when it all started, we thought it was one of those usual ailments. But when it became obvious that he needed to be handled by specialists, we headed for the National Hospital.
“He was subsequently placed on drugs and periodic examinations by the hospital which we consistently complied with. This processes costs between 400,000 and 500,000 naira monthly, depending on the result of the tests.
“By the grace of God and with the cooperation of the family and others we were coping with the management of the illness. We started having problems with his treatment as from the middle of last year when Kogi State Judiciary started facing funding crises.
“At this point, his salary, allowances and even the little assistance the judiciary was giving him ceased to come anymore. His care suddenly became the exclusive responsibility of the wife and the family alone.
“You’ll surely agree with me that couple with the children’s demands it will be difficult for the wife to bear this enormous burden. As a matter of fact, before he finally gave up the ghost, he was withdrawn from the National Hospital for lack of fund! It’s at the critical point of his death that he was rushed back to the hospital by which time it was already too late.
“I am very sorry to say that even as we subscribe to the will of Almighty Allah, who gives and takes life, you and I know certainly that sometimes there are deaths that are evitable. In this particular one, we feel it may have been further delayed if we had continued to manage his ailment as we were doing in the past before the judiciary was financially grounded.”
The Chief Registrar however appealed to well-meaning Nigerians to plead with Governor Yahaya Bello, to save Kogi judiciary and the state from similar calamities by releasing the judiciary funds to enable it pay the nine months owed the workers.
“As I speak with you, many others are hospitalized, their children withdrawn from schools and some even homeless resulting from tenancy problems with their respective landlords” the Chief Registrar added.
Chairman , Kogi state chapter of the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN), Comrade Emmanuel Waniko while commenting on the death said: “We have buried the deceased and we are still mourning, we plead that if truly, monies amounting to several months salaries due to Kogi state Civil Servants working in the Judiciary are sitting in the banks as said by the Governor, he should kindly order the payment of judiciary subventions to avoid further agonies.”
