Justice Babatunde A. Adejumo of the National Industrial Court, Abuja has reserved ruling on the alleged case of wrongful dismissal brought against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) by Juliet Ibekaku, its former assistant director, legal and prosecution till 16th December 2015.
At Wednesday’s sitting, counsel to both the plaintiff and the defendant adopted their final addresses.
Adopting his final address, counsel to EFCC, Mela A. Nunghe, urged the court to refuse Ms. Ibekaku’s claim as canvassed by her counsel and award cost against them.
“We adopt our written address as our argument and urge your Lordship to refuse the claimant’s claim with cost to the defendant,” pleaded Nunghe.
Ibekaku’s counsel, Abdul Mohammed, while adopting his final address said, “on behalf of the claimant, we adopt our written address dated 3rd September 2015. We adopt same as our legal argument in support of the claimant’s claim.”
He urged the court to discountenance the defendant’s submission.
Justice Adejumo, thereafter, adjourned for ruling.
Ibekaku was allegedly dismissed for desertion, a serious offence against discipline going by the provisions of Section 43 (e) (i) of the EFCC Staff Regulation which states that, “Any officer who wilfully absents (him/herself) 21 consecutive days shall be guilty of offence of desertion and shall be dismissed from the Commission as a deserter.”
She is however challenging her dismissal, which according to her, did not follow due process.
Ibekaku, who was acting director of the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) was redeployed to the legal directorate in the Lagos Zonal Office on 15th November 2013 and although she reported for documentation on 21st November 2013, she was later accused of absconding from work for 81 consecutive days.
Normal.dotm
0
0
1
286
1631
huhuonline
13
3
2002
12.0
0
false
18 pt
18 pt
0
0
false
false
false
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:”Table Normal”;
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:””;
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:”Times New Roman”;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:”Times New Roman”;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:”Times New Roman”;
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
She was subsequently dismissed on 11th February 2014 for desertion, contrary to Section 36 (i) (xi) of the EFCC Staff Regulation.
