A director in the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ayo Olowonihi, has accused the commission’s acting
chairman, Ibrahim Magu of injustice.
The complainant, in the suit
marked: NICN/ABJ/347/2017, wants the court to declare his demotion as well as
the processes that led to it as illegal and null and void.
Led in evidence by his lawyer,
Prof. J.O Amupitan (SAN), he told Justice Sanusi Kadu of the National
Industrial Court in Abuja that he was appointed as Head of Training on grade
level 16 Step 1 in 2005 and later Commandant of the EFCC Academy in March 28,
2012.
Olowonihi disclosed further that
after he sat and passed the commission’s promotion examinations conducted by
the Public Service Institute, he was promoted to the rank of Detective
Commander on August 29, 2013.
He claimed that Magu, on November
19, 2015, summoned him into his office, accusing him of being behind some
online publications on the activities of the commission and against the person
of the chairman (Magu).
He said on Magu’s directive, he
was interrogated, his official computer taken away, while his two phones were
seized, adding that his office, after being thoroughly searched by a team of
detectives and policemen, was sealed up.
The complainant said further that
while interrogation was still on, Magu demoted him as Commandant and redeployed
him from the EFCC Academy.
He said while the letter was
purported to have been issued by the management of the commission, he was not
aware of any management meeting where such decision was taken being a
management staff.
Olowonihi disclosed that he
received a query on December 22, 2015, accusing him of breaching certain
section of the commission Staff Regulation Handbook and replied on December 29,
2015, denying all the allegations, but was surprised to receive that same day,
a letter of indefinite suspension from work without pay with immediate effect.
He stated that since his
suspension over two years now, he was never invited to appear before any panel
nor were there any communication until November 16, 2017, when he was served
with a letter of reinstatement dated November 15, 2017, demoting him and
forfeiting his salaries and emoluments.
In the reinstatement letter, the
complainant was accused of breach of confidence by the Senior Staff Promotions
and Disciplinary Committee.
He, however, claimed that he was
never invited by the committee to defend himself of the said allegations or any
other misconduct.
Olowonihi insisted that the commission
Staff Regulation Handbook 2007 on which he was queried, demoted and asked to
forfeit his salaries and entitlements and purported reinstatement, has not been
approved by the commission or its board.
While claiming that it is only
the commission that has disciplinary powers over a management staff, he said
the federal government was yet to constitute the commission/board since 2015.
Olowonihi said based on the
above, he rejected the conditions of his reinstatement in a letter dated
November 22, 2017.
However, counsel to the
defendant, Ibrahim Audu, during cross-examination, asked the complainant to
confirm to the court if he was still a director in the commission and
commandant of the Academy.
Responding, Olowonihi answered in
the affirmative, claiming that he has already written to the commission
rejecting his demotion as he was never found guilty of any offence.
Responding also to question on
the validity of the commission’s regulation handbook on which disciplinary
action was taken against him, he insisted that the regulation was not valid
because it has not been approved by the commission, adding that some staff of
the commission who have been punished have been challenging the validity.
Olowonihi said he played a major
role in the drafting of the regulation, adding that the work of the drafting
committee ended at the doorstep of the director of organisation who was to
transmit it to the board for approval. He however said he cannot tell if that
was done.
He also said by the mandate of
the Academy, promotion examinations and other examinations are to be conducted
by it, but the examinations were outsourced to the Public Service Institute and
JAMB.
Olowonihi claimed that the
promotion examination he wrote was conducted in the Academy but not by the
Academy.
After cross-examining the
complainant, Audu asked for an adjournment to enable the defendant call its
witnesses.
Justice Kadu, adjourned till April
30, 2018, for continuation of trial.
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