Benjamin Saliu Ikani, wants Roli, the wife of PDP Chieftain Olabode George
and another NDLEA topshot, Ahmadu Giade committed to a year in prison each.
And he has instituted court process to achieve his aim.
Here are the details
Assistant state commander of National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA)
Benjamin Saliu Ikani is urging National Industrial Court (NIC) sitting in Lagos
Southwest Nigeria to commit Chairman of NDLEA, Ahmadu Giade and Director
General of the agency, Roli Bode-George to one year imprisonment each for
disobeying a valid and subsisting order of the Federal High Court in Lagos.
Roli, who is the wife of a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),
also doubles as the NDLEA secretary.
Both Giade and Roli were alleged to have disobeyed a court order which
restrained them from sacking Prince Benjamin Saliu Ikani, an Assistant State
Commander with the NDLEA.
In an order made by Justice Okechukwu Okeke (now retired) of the Federal
High Court in Lagos on November 9, 2010, the NDLEA and Giade were specifically
restrained from “interfering with or otherwise obstructing the applicant
(Ikani) in the performance of his duties as Assistant Commander in the
employment of the agency.
The order was to be in force until the final hearing and determination of
the suit file by Ikani.
However the suit was later transferred to the National Industrial Court as
the subject matter bordered on labour dispute.
In an affidavit sworn to by Ikani in support of the committal motion, he
averred that despite the fact that Giade and Roli were aware of the existence
of the interim order, they nonetheless suspended him on February 16, 2015 from
duty without pay.
He stated that: “the committal motion was filed basically to protect and
restore the dignity of the judicial process and to “punish these characters
(Giade and Roli) sufficiently to deter others from pursuing similar paths of
illegality.”
Ikani averred further that his travails with the NDLEA management started
when he was appointed by the Attorney General of the Federation as the
secretary of the seven-man presidential committee for the reform of the agency.
He stated that the committee was headed by Justice Gilbert Obayan (retired)
and was inaugurated in 2006, while the report of the committee was submitted in
2007.
However, Ikani said the NDLEA leadership, after considering the report,
accused him of not protecting the agency.
According to him, since then, they have been witch-hunting and persecuting
him for no reason. He was later retired illegally on an untenable ground that
he was not entitled to return to service after serving as Attorney General of
Kogi State, a development that necessitated the suit.
After the suit was instituted against the NDLEA and its chairman, the court
made an interim order and the applicant was reinstated, but was later suspended
on February 16, 2015.
Apart from seeking an order committing Giade and Roli to one year
imprisonment each, the applicant is also seeking an order summoning the duo to
appear in court for the purpose of the enforcement of the order upon them.
He also wants the court to declare that the ground for his suspension was
unconstitutional, unreasonable, made without or in excess of jurisdiction,
irregular, unlawful and void.
He further wants an order nullifying the said suspension and an order
restraining NDLEA, Giade and Roli whether by themselves, their servants, agents
and privies or otherwise whosoever from implementing or enforcing the
contemptuous act contained in the letter of February 16, 2015.
The court has adjourned till 26th of March, 2015
for hearing
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