Leadership Ex-Taraba SSG, Commissioners Sue Ag Gov, Others Over Sack By: Iorakpen Ishu-Josef on July 15, 2013 - 4:35am Sacked secretary to the Taraba State government Mr Emmanuel Njiwah, five commissioners and two special advisers have filed a legal action before a Taraba High Court challengeing the propriety of their sack by the state acting governor, Garba Umar, following their indictment by the State House of Assembly which adopted the report of its committee that investigated the utilisation of flood funds provided by the federal government. Announcing their removal last week Tuesday, a statement by chief press secretary to the governor Kefas Sule noted that, for mismanaging N400 million flood relief funds, “the affected persons have been removed following a resolution from the Taraba State House of Assembly at its sitting on Monday, 8th July, 2013”. But the ex-SSG alongside the-five ex-commissioners and two special advisers are asking the court to invoke the original jurisdiction of the state high court in Taraba and declare that their purported sack was null and void, as well as an order setting aside the adhoc committee report of state assembly on the grounds that they were not given fair hearing and their removal did not follow due process. The plaintiffs are also asking the court for “an order setting aside the adhoc committee report of the state assembly”. The plaintiffs also sought another order restraining the acting governor from appointing or forwarding any names to the state House of Assembly for confirmation as public officers replacing them in the Taraba State public service. Not satisfied, they further prayed the court to issue an order, compelling the acting governor to tender a written apology to them “for defamatory and/or libelous publication vide the press release” announcing their sack. The affected commissioners and special advisers who were said to have been “indicted by the House for failing to properly account for N400 million Federal Government intervention fund for the 2012 flood disaster in Taraba State” alongside the SSG are Anthony Jellason (agriculture), Rebo Usman (water resources and rural development), Yakubu Agbaizo (education), Charity Green (women affairs) and Jonah Agyo (works). The special advisers are Joshua Augustine (revenue matters) and Mannaseh D. Kaura (border development). In the suit filed by their lawyer, Mr F. O. Obanye, the plaintiffs also joined the speaker of the state assembly; chairman of the adhoc committee that investigated the plaintiffs, Tanko Adamu Maikarfi, as well as members of the committee namely Edward Baraya, Yahaya Abdulrahman, Ibrahim Adamu Imam and Yohana Iratsi Adaki as co-defendants to the suit. The plaintiffs are asking the court to crosscheck properly whether the failure of the adhoc committee to invite them to appear before it and respond to the allegations leveled against them did not breach their fundamental rights to fair hearing as guaranteed by the 1999 constitution. Asking the court to declare that both the adhoc committee report headed by Maikarfi and the resolution passed by the whole House of Assembly presided over by the speaker contained in the votes and proceedings of Monday, July 8, 2013, was not in law an indictment. The plaintiffs also sought a declaration that the said report “is null and void for violation of their right to fair hearing”. The plaintiffs also prayed the court to hold that their removal “from the public service of Taraba State by the 8th defendant (acting governor) on grounds of a purported indictment of the plaintiffs by the 6th (speaker) and 7th (Taraba House of Assembly) defendants is invalid, null, void and of no legal basis whatsoever”. No date has been fixed for the hearing of the matter.
Posted on: Mon, 15 Jul 2013 08:23:24 +0000
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