By Jacob Onjewu –
Months after Justice E.N. Agbakoba of The National Industrial Court, Abuja Judicial Division ordered the Police Service Commission (PSC) and the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to reinstate Mr. Simeon A.E. Ajisafe who was wrongly dismissed in June 2011, the order is yet to be obeyed.
Counsel to Ajisafe, Barrister Victoria Echobu-Dickson decried this, when speaking to journalists in Kaduna on Sunday March 15, 2020.
According to copy of the judgment she made available, the court also ordered the Police to pay the plaintiff not less than the sum of N23,106,977 accrued as at April 30, 2018.
Justice Agbakoba according to the documents made available, also ordered the Police to promote him to the rank of Chief Superintendent of Police alongside his colleagues who attended Police Academy Course 290 and JCC Course 48/2008.
“AN ORDER of this Honourable Court mandating the Defendants to render to the Claimant a letter of unreserved apology for his unlawful dismissal and subsequent commutal to compulsory retirement,” the judgment said.
Barrister Echobu-Dickson said that she approached the media as the fourth estate of the realm, following the silence from the Defendants.
“It has been over 45 days since the judgment, they have not obeyed, neither have they appealed the judgment, hence, we are appealing to the press to assist in helping remind them to do the needful,” she said.
She explained that till date, despite writing the PSC and copying the IGP, that the court of competent jurisdiction ordered his immediate reinstatement, no action has been taken.
“Shouldn’t a man who was unlawfully dismissed and in respect of which a judge of competent jurisdiction has delivered verdict be reinstated with immediate effect?” She queried.
The judgment was given on December 16, 2019 and the PSC and IGP were represented by their Counsel, Barrister Obinna Yagazie throughout the matter.
