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Tag: dismissal

  • Dismissed Police Officer raises alarm over alleged injustice

    Dismissed Police Officer raises alarm over alleged injustice

    A 33-year old Corporal, Godwin Otu, dismissed in the line of duty has called on Federal Government and civil society organisations to urgently intervene on his matter.

    The officer accused the Nigerian Police Force of injustice despite being sent on an official assignment over a case of kidnapping.

    Otu, who had spent about nine years in the force, is currently detained in the facility of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Abuja.

    The dismissed officer during an interaction with The Nation in Abuja‎, said he was asked to lead three men team on an official duty following a reported case of kidnapping on 24th November, 2014.

    He explained that two ladies, Nwanfo Okechukwu and one other were kidnapped by an unknown group, allegedly led by late Police Corporal, Manasa Akenye but one of the ladies was released to pay a N150, 000 ransom.

    Otu noted that getting to scene of the incident, the kidnappers opened fire at their patrol team dispatched by the Divisional Police Officer, (DPO), Enugu Central Police station, Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), Ike Mba, which led to exchange of fire.

    According to him, one of the masterminds of the kidnap, who was shot, incidentally happened to be a policeman, having confessed upon his arrest.

    His words: “On the 24th November, 2014, I was at the station when two ladies came to the office and complain that they kidnapped two of them but one of them was released and one was still being held hostage, they demanded money, they paid N150, 000. They freed one of them remaining one

    “After making the complaint at the counter, the DPO CSP Ike Mba ordered me and two other police officers to follow me to the scene. He gave me a vehicle and a rifle. On getting to that scene, ‎the kidnappers sighted us and opened fire and I responded. Unfortunately, one of them was shot, so the gang were tried to pick him but the man was restless. They only picked the victim’s rifle and left, they were like four with the driver making five.

    “So, my colleagues and I picked the kidnapper to the station where we met our DPO‎ at Central Police Station in Enugu State, but he is retired now. He interrogated the victim. That was when the victim said he is a policeman serving in State Provost, Enugu state Command, his name is Manasa Akenye, he was a PC then. He asked us to search him, we searched him.

    “We recovered the kidnapped girl’s phone from him and his personal phone that he was using to communicate with family of the girl, who was asked to bring the ransom. The DPO now asked the IPO to take Akenye to the Sparkling Hospital Enugu. They took him there, on getting to the hospital, they met the doctor who started the treatment and the man’s statement was recorded. He later died.”

    He said upon investigations, superior officers in the force concluded there was no case as the accused officers have performed their duty effectively.

    Yet, the case was later revisited upon continuous pressure from family of the deceased officer.

    He revealed that on July, 2015, next of kin to the late police officer claimed that an officer, PC Ada Ochechi, who was part of the team called to accuse him of murder.

    Narrating his ordeal further, he explained that they were put on trial at the Force Headquarters, Abuja under the supervision of the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Monitoring Unit, adding that the two kidnapped ladies were invited by his family to testify, but denied the access to testify at the police hearing by the Investigating Police Officer (IPO) ASP Sunday Idowu.

    “When they brought us here (Force Headquarter), they said they should try us at the HQ. The IPO said he would tell the trial police officer on what to do. After, they tried us and they recommended me for dismissal, the two other officers were released because they were constable and they did not carry any rifle.

    “The people that we rescued and the girl that came to the station to complain came here but the ASP Idowu asked them to go back that when they are needed, they will be called. When we went for the trial again the next day, they asked for the testifiers, we said we brought them but they were asked to go back.

    “So the officer in charge of the trial said he did not have anything to say again since we could not provide the ladies. We pleaded with him; we only succeeded by calling the girl that came to the station to complain about the case. She narrated everything that happened, after all those things, the man that read the judgment said the way they kidnapped the girl was so mild,” adding that “how can they kidnapped the girl in a broad-day light? How can they open fire without any bullet shot on the vehicle? On his final judgment, he recommended me for dismissal.”

    “They detained three of us but they later released, PC Ada Ochechi and PC Joshua Omeje while I’m still here in detention.”

    Otu wondered why he should still remain in detention, even after the trial. He alleged it is on record at the Enugu station several criminal offences the deceased officer, whose father happened to be a police officer committed.

    ‎“The kidnapper that was killed even has criminal record in the command, he has pending trial. On the 23rd June, they said they had send my dismissal signal to my command, now they have directed them to take me back to my command so that they can charge me to court, since then getting to a month now, they have been keeping me here getting to three months now”

    During the investigation, The Nation met with the IPO, Idowu Sunday but directed this correspondent to the Force spokesperson. He refused to make comment.

    After 48 hours of consistent effort to meet the Force spokesperson, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Don Awunah, explained the accused might have presented a one sided story.

    He said the Police have a special process when an issue of such occurs.

    “The police have three different set of trials depending on the offence committed just like court martial. Since he has been dismissed, the case will be with the ministry of justice. They will look into it and further present to the attorney general of the federation who will then make final recommendation. So, that is how it works. There is nothing we can do here. It pains us more when one of us faces this kind of situation,” he added.

     

  • Provost to students: Violence will attract dismissal

    About 350 new students of the Federal College of Agriculture, Akure (FECA) have taken an oath of allegiance to the institution.

    At  the event, the Provost, Dr Samson Odedina, worried that many youths have lost the virtues of hard work, honesty, punctuality and sense of morality.

    He said it was an irony that this is happening to young people in a country that has been described as the most religious in the world.

    Odedina lamented that most of the agencies of socialisation have failed in their duty of moulding the character of the young ones.

    He said: “It is in realisation of this that FECA has chosen to rededicate itself not only to provide training in Agriculture, but also moulding the character of her students in order to become assets to their families, communities and the country.”

    The provost admonished them to avoid all forms of violence on campus, saying any violent act would attract outright dismissal from the college.

    Odedina re-emphasised the need for the freshers to take their studies seriously.

    The Registrar, Dr Pius Adebisi, administered the oath.

     

  • PDP seeks dismissal of petition against Akpabio

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has urged the Akwa Ibom State Legislative Election Petitions Tribunal to nullify the proceedings it has so far conducted on the petition challenging the election of former Governor Godswill Akpabio, as the senator representing Akwa Ibom Northwest.

    The PDP, in a fresh motion filed before the tribunal, sitting in Abuja, argued that the tribunal lacked the jurisdiction to hear the petition on the ground that the petitioner wrongly applied for the issuance of pre-hearing notices.

    The party also prayed tribunal to dismiss the petition, arguing that it is deemed abandoned since the petitioners failed to comply with the legal requirement for the application of pre-hearing notices.

    The candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Inibehe Okori, and his party are challenging the election of Akpabio, who is Minority Leader of the 8th Senate.

    PDP, named as the third defendant in the petition, argued that the petitioners failed to properly apply for the pre-hearing session, as required by law, before going into the hearing of the petition.

  • Ex-banker gets N76m for wrong dismissal

    The National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NIC) has awarded N76.6million to a banker, Mr Patrick Obiora Modilim, for wrong termination of his employment.

    Justice Benedict Kanyip held that the defendant “constructively and wrongly” terminated the claimant’s employment.

    “It is hereby ordered that the defendant shall pay to the claimant the sum of N75,535,128 only being the total sum the claimant ought to have been paid as his emolument for 20 months had the defendant reviewed his level to General Manager on confirmation.

    “It is hereby ordered that the defendant shall pay to the claimant the sum of N1,120,221.60 only as damages for the wrongful termination of the claimant’s contract of employment in terms of his constructive dismissal by the defendant,” Justice Kanyip held.

    He added the money must be paid within 30 days of the judgment, otherwise it would attract interest at the rate of 10 per cent per annum until liquidated.

    Modilim told the court that he was a Deputy General Manager at Zenith Bank when United Bank for Africa (UBA) offered him employment on December 3, 2007.

    It was agreed he would be made a General Manager after six months, subject to his meeting set targets. He said he met the preconditions, following which his employment was confirmed on August 5, 2008.

    However, the bank, he said, continued to pay him the salary of a Deputy General Manager for the 20 months he worked for them, and did not provide him with two official cars which he was entitled to as General Manager.

    According to him, he was allegedly forced to resign on March 31, 2010, while UBA accepted his resignation via a letter dated March 30, 2010, a day before he resigned.

    The plaintiff said the defendant’s acceptance letter shows that his employment was constructively terminated wrongfully.

    But the bank, in its defence, said it never promised to confirm the claimant’s employment as a General Manager.

    It said it confirmed Modilim’s appointment as Deputy General Manager after the probationary period in line with his terms of employment.

    The defendant said the claimant resigned his appointment, never worked as a General Manager, and therefore, cannot be paid the salary of a General Manager.

    The bank also denied that Modilim was entitled to two vehicles with cash value of N16.4million as he was never a General Manager.

    But Justice Kanyip declared that the defendant’s failure to review the claimant’s level to General Manager on confirmation was a breach of his contract of employment contained in the officer letter and letter of commitment, both dated November 23, 2007.

    In one of the letters, the bank stated: “Subject to achieving your set targets, the bank is willing to review your level to General Manager on confirmation.”

    The bank had argued that the claimant did not prove that he met the targets, and that its expression of its willingness to review his level was futuristic and “does not constitute a contract of employment.”

    Justice Kanyip disagreed, saying: “This commitment remains a binding terms of the contract of employment between the claimant and the defendant.

    “The defendant is in breach of the contract of employment between it and the claimant. The claimant is accordingly entitled to relief but only in terms of the failure of the defendant to indicate the willingness to review the claimant’s position to the lever of General Manager.”

  • Civil society groups seek dismissal of corrupt judges

    The Osun Civil Societies Coalition (OCSC) has called for the dismissal of two federal judges, Justices Thomas Naron and Charles Archibong, who were found guilty of ethical misconduct by the National Judicial Council (NJC).

    OCSC hailed the NJC for recommending the immediate retirement of the two judges.

    OCSC Chairman Waheed Lawal, in a statement, said Naron and Archibong should have been dismissed from service.

    Naron handled the petition filed by Governor Rauf Aregbesola challenging the declaration of former Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola as the winner of the April 14, 2007, governorship election.

    Justice Naron of the High Court of Justice, Plateau State, was recommended for compulsory retirement to Governor David Jonah Jang, following findings by the NJC that there were regular voice calls and exchange of multimedia messages and text messages between him and one of the lead counsel for one of the parties to the suit in the Osun State Governorship Election Tribunal, contrary to the Code of Conduct for judicial officers as contained in Section 292(1((b) of the 1999 Constitution.

    Justice Archibong was recommended for compulsory retirement following the findings of the council on complaints that he dismissed grievous charges against an accused without taking his plea and that he refused to release the certified true copy of his ruling to the lawyers, among others.

    The decision on the judges’ retirement was reached at a meeting held at the Supreme Court Complex, Abuja, which was presided over by the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Mariam Alooma Mukhtar.

    According to NJC, Naron and Archibong spearheaded the perversion of justice on the cases before them.

    The group said: “Aregbesola accused the Naron-led tribunal of bias, following the revelation of regular voice calls and exchange of MMS and text messages between Naron and Kalejaiye on the suit. Aregbesola obtained the MTN call logs that revealed the conversation between Naron and Kalejaiye and presented the document to the NJC.

    “The NJC’s punishment for the compromised judges is insignificant, compared with the consequences of the manipulation and long road to justice created by their actions.

    “The trivial punishment given to errant public office holders in the country means that one can steal, compromise and siphon public funds and also go free or get slight punishment.

    “Naron and Archibong have not been duly punished, as they would be entitled to retirement benefits – gratuity and pension – as government officials that retired from service.”