BREAKING NEWS, Politics
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The members of the board of the Niger Delta Development Commission whose tenure were terminated in July have taken President Muhammadu Buhari and others to court for wrongly terminating their tenure and acting against the NDDC Statutes
MEMBERS of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, board, have dragged President Muhammadu Buhari to the National Industrial Court, Abuja, for sacking them from office. They board members are asking the court to declare that the president has no powers to sack them as their appointments are governed by statutes and for a fixed period which has not expired.
The board members appointment was terminated through circulars from the office of secretary to the government of the federation, dated July 16, 2015, Ref. No. SGF.19/S.81/XIX/964 and July 23, 2015, Ref. No. SGF.55/S.2 stating that all boards stand dissolved. The Bassey Ewa-Henshaw a former senator-led board, through their counsel, Ebun-Olu Adegborowa, is contending that the circulars were wrongly applied to NDDC.
Defendants in the suit are the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Senate and House of Representatives. Adegborowa pointed out that by virtue of section 6 (6) of the 1999 Constitution as amended, once parties have submitted their dispute before a competent court, none of them is allowed to resort to self-help or to take any step that may jeopardise the due hearing of the matter on its merit.
The claimants argued that by virtue of sections 2, 3 and 5 of the NDDA Establishment Act, they were entitled to four years unbroken tenure from December 16, 2013, to December 15, 2017, and they could not be deprived of the said appointments, or removed from office, dissolved or their appointments terminated save and in accordance with the extant provisions of the said Act.
According to them; “By virtue of the NDDC Establishment Act, the governing board of the commission cannot be dissolved, either through the letters dated July 16, 201
5, Ref. No. SGF.19/S.81/XIX/964 and July 23, 2015, Ref. No. SGF.55/S.2, respectively, or in any other manner that constitutes a violation of sections 2,3,5 and other extant provisions of the said NDDC Act.”
They are praying the court to; “Declare that the letters respectively, are ultra vires, ineffective and ineffectual to ground the dissolution of the 4th governing board of the NDDC and the same are invalid, null and void and of no effect whatsoever, in so far as they relate to the dissolution of the said Governing Board.
They are also asking for “An order forthwith re-instating the claimants as members of the 4th Governing Board of the NDDC in compliance with their respective letters of appointment and sections 2, 3, 5 and other extant provisions of the NDDC Establishment Act and to direct the second defendant to pay all allowances, benefits and perquisites to which the claimants are otherwise entitled.”
- Sourced from Vanguard/Urhobo Today
— Sep 7, 2015 @ 15:10 GMT
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