Court reinstates dismissed NIA director general
The National Industrial Court of Nigeria in Abuja yesterday reinstated Ambassador Mohammed Dauda who was dismissed as the acting DirectorGeneral of the National Intelligence Agency as a substantive director in the agency.
Justice Olufunke Anuwe granted all the reliefs sought by the claimant and declared that his dismissal as a director in the agency was illegal, null and void.
The judge also awarded the sum of N1 million against the NIA in favour of Dauda.
In an originating summon filed through his counsel, Kanu Agabi (SAN), Dauda had joined the DirectorGeneral and the NIA as first and second defendants respectively.
He had asked the court to determine whether the procedure adopted by the defendants in the case leading to his purported dismissal is in compliance with Article 8(1) and (2) of the National Securities Agency Act (CAPS 278) 1986.
He had also asked the court to determine whether the purported letter of dismissing him issued on March 6, 2018 was not unlawful, null and void and of no effect whatsoever.
The former acting NIA DG had also asked the court to reinstate him as director and order payment of his salaries and other entitlements from the date of his unlawful dismissal to the date of his reinstatement.
The judge granted these prayers and also dismissed the preliminary objection by the NIA its their counsel, Wale Adesokan (SAN), that Dauda did not exhaust internal dispute settlement mechanism before instituting the action.
Dauda had challenged the composition of the Senior Staff Disciplinary Committee of the agency which investigated allegations of leveled against him leading to his letter of dismissal dated March 6, 2018.
He had contended that the procedure, which was not a competent panel, was a violation of Article 8(1) and (2) of the National Securities Agency Act (CAP 278) 1986, and therefore breached his right to fair hearing.
Meanwhile, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, yesterday did not respond to calls and a text message to his GSM line seeking to know whether the government would comply with the court orders.