Ex-NEMA spokesperson wants minister jailed over contempt

A former spokesperson of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) Yushau Shuaib has asked the National Industrial Court in Abuja to commit the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed to jail for allegedly refusing to comply with the judgment of the court.

Yushau, a former Chief Information Officer with the Federal Ministry of Information, asked the court to jail the minister along with Chairman of the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC) and the Permanent Secretaries of both the ministry and FCSC, for their alleged joint refusal to comply with the judgment of the court delivered on November 22, 2017.

Justice David Isele of the National Industrial Court (NIC) had last year ordered the immediate reinstatement of Shuaib back into the public service four years after he was forcefully retired in 2013 for writing an opinion article on former finance minister, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala over lopsided appointments in the public service.

The judge had specifically ordered the Federal Government to compute and pay within 30 days all Shuaib’s salaries, allowances and other emoluments due to him from July 2013 to the judgment date and interest at the prevailing commercial bank’s rate on his total package. In addition, the court directed that Shuaib should be placed at the appropriate position he ought to be in the service.

However, since the verdict was handed down, the minister and other respondents were said to have refused, neglected, omitted and failed to carry out the orders of the court.

No date has yet been hearing of the motion. fixed for the