Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke has approved and cashed backed arrears of salaries owed to retired judges in the state.

Adeleke in a statement by his spokesperson, Mallam Rasheed Olawale, said judges serving or retired deserve maximum support and partnership of the executive arm of government.

While tasking the bar and the bench to remain focused and undistracted by agents of destabilization, the Governor assured them that their welfare was paramount to him.

“I am not just committed to clearing such inherited salary matters, I am also working to provide requisite logistic support for serving judicial officers. The judiciary must be provided with the tools for efficient justice administration and adjudication.

“The present Administration in Osun State has as its number one priority workers’ welfare, how much more the welfare of the judicial officers of the State whether serving or retired. Since this Administration came on board, the State Government has continued to enjoy a harmonious working relationship with the State Judiciary.

“There has never been any time our Administration has made any attempt to gag the judiciary or unduly influence any of the State’s judicial officers. We are clearing the inherited financial obligations owed to our judicial officers both serving and retired. What the peddlers of fake news and their sponsors intend to achieve by insinuating or feigning a strained relationship between the State Government and the State Judiciary is what we don’t know.

“Recently, we constituted statutory commissions in the State among which is the State Judicial Service Commission solely for the purpose of catering adequately for the needs of the judiciary. If there is any rot in the Osun Judiciary, it must have been there before the coming on board of the present administration and we are committed to helping to reshape our judiciary so that it would truly live up to the expectation of being the last hope of the common man.

“Our commitment is to an improved condition of service for our judicial officers so much that none of our serving judicial officers will have to work without the necessary incentives to enhance their performance and none of our retired judicial officers should live in hassle and pains.”