The Supreme Court has affirmed the decision of the Court of Appeal, Abuja that recalled 181 sacked personnel of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).
Delivering judgement on Monday, the Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Tanko Muhammad, struck out the appeal filed by the corps challenging the decision of the lower court.
The acting CJN, who led four other justices, held that the apex court lacked that jurisdiction to entertain the matter.
He said that Section 248 (4) of the 1999 Constitution as amended placed all legal disputes which emanated from the National Industrial Court (NIC) to terminate at the court of appeal.
Muhammad further said that that apex court was therefore not vested with the jurisdiction to entertain such appeals.
“In the circumstance, the appellant applicant has reached its limit and the appeal is therefore struck out.
“The matter has come to its finality’’, he said.
The lost appeal was filed by NSCDC against the judgment by the National Industrial Court (NIC), reinstating 182 of its personnel who were wrongly dismissed.
NIC had, in a judgement on March 19, 2015, ordered the NSCDC to reinstate the sacked staff with their full emoluments from the time they were illegally dismissed.
The trial court also ordered NSCDC to return the employment letters to the affected personnel and pay all arrears of their salaries amounting to about N1.2 billion.
The court restrained the NSCDC from further tampering with the employment of the affected personnel.
Dissatisfied with the judgement, the NSCDC and Immigration and Prisons Service Board (who were respondents at the NIC) appealed the judgment, but failed to diligently prosecute it.
A three-man panel of the Court of Appeal, led by Justice Moore Adumein, in a ruling, on July 18, 2016, upheld the respondents’ request and dismissed the appeal for lack of diligent prosecution.
Oboni Musa and 180 others had sued the then Commandant-General, NSCDC, alleging unlawful termination of their employments.
They prayed the court to declare that the verbal and oral suspension of the claimants by the NSCDC was null, void and of no effect.
The claimants also sought an order directing the defendants to recall all the claimants to work and to also release the original copies of their letters of employment to them.
They also asked for an order of the court directing the defendants to immediately pay them all arrears of salaries from 2007 till date.
Speaking to newsmen after the court session, Mr Ibrahim Bawa, counsel to the respondents, expressed delight on the outcome of the case, adding that his clients had been exposed to hardship since 2007 when they were unlawfully sacked.
He, therefore, urged President Muhammadu Buhari to impress it on the Commandant-General of the corps to without delay effect the decision of the apex court.
Bawa also said that the president might contemplate investigating the untidy manner the establishment was managed.
One hundred and eighty one personnel of the corps were seen dancing and thanking God for their legal victory in the premises of the court.
