The National Industrial Court Of Nigeria, (NICN) Sitting in Ibadan has ordered the Oyo State Board of Inland Revenue to reinstate a clerical officer, Adebisi Ogunjinmi, who was unlawfully dismissed six years ago.
In the judgement, The judge, J.D Peters, described her dismissal from service as “ Unreasonable, unjustifiable and unfair.”
In the suit, Ms Ogunjinmi had sued the Oyo State Board of Inland Revenue, Oyo State Civil Service Commission and Oyo State Attorney General in a suit marked: NICN/1B/19/2016 challenging her illlegal dismissal in November 2015.
The suit was filed on 16th February, 2016. The claimant informed the court that her dismissal was effected through a letter dated 16th November, 2015 and was on an unproven allegation of failing to remit the sum of N454,234 revenue to the coffers of the Oyo Sate Government.
She denied the allegation. She claimed she was denied the courtesy of a fair hearing and was disengaged summarily. She alleged that the defendants never gave her the opportunity to attend any enquiry or investigation panel in the course of their investigations.
In their defence, the defendants justified Ms Ogunjinmi’s dismissal, which they noted was based on a case of gross misconduct against her.
They claimed that between January 2013 to 2015, the accused person was queried, suspended, and eventually dismissed for her failure to remit the sum of N454,234 to the Board of Internal Revenue.
The defence however admitted that she was never invited to face any panel between the time she was queried and the time she was dismissed.
The defendants also admitted that there was no document before the court to support the assertion that she agreed to refund money allegedly fraudulently received and diverted.
The judgement nullified Ms Adebisi’s dismissal and ordered her reinstatement. The judge ruled that the public service rules on the basis of which she was employed were not followed in her dismissal.
The judge set aside the letter dated 16 November, 2015 issued by the Board of Inland Revenue dismissing the plaintiff as
The Board of Internal Revenue was also ordered to pay Ms Adebisi all her arrears of salaries and allowances from 1 September, 2015 till the day of the judgement.
He said the judgement was based on the grounds that Ms Adebisi’s dismissal was in breach of the Civil Service Commission Regulations, Laws of Oyo State of Nigeria, 2000.
The judge ordered the 1st defendant (Board of Inland Revenue) to pay N200,000 as cost of prosecuting the proceedings to the claimant.
“All the terms of this judgement are to be
complied with immediately,” the court declared.
Earlier, the court dismissed the preliminary objections filed by the claimant to challenge the court’s jurisdiction.
Credit: Eons Intelligence
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