About 183 former political office holders, who worked with the immediate past governor of Bauchi State, Mallam Isa Yuguda, have dragged the
state government to the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, Bauchi, over unpaid severance gratuity totalling over N600 million.
One of the the aggrieved former aides, Dalhatu Ibrahim Ningi, a former Senior Special Assistant, Protocol to ex-governor Yuguda, spoke at the court premises in Bauchi, on Wednesday, after the case was mentioned before presiding Judge, Justice Waziri Agbe.
He said that they sued the state government to claim their rights.
Ningi, who is the chairman, Forum of Former Political Officer Holders, said: “We met the state government several times and we have written to them several times to pay us our severance gratuity.
“They promised us several times and gave us letters that they would definitely pay; but up till now they have not paid us and they didn’t call for any settlement between us and them; that is why we are here today (Wednesday) with our lawyer to claim our rights.”
The Counsel to the plaintiff, Barrister Aniekan Mendie, said that his clients were getting disenchanted with the development, saying it was capable of creating social tension within the polity.
He said: “It is better the government comes to their aid and settle
because this is a claim fixed by law. We have a gazette fixing it and that have no defence against the claim before the court.”
On the adjournment of the case to December 7 for hearing, Aneikan said, “We are optimistic that the new judge was just posted and we have seen that he is proactive. He is ready to hear us.
So we have faith in the court because that is the only place we can run to ventilate our grievance as far as this claim is concern. We
expect that on the next adjourn date (December 7), our matter will be heard and justice will come in the end.
“The case is just about severance gratuity which has not been paid. We have written several letters to that effect and the government still dodges and for a long time didn’t find anything in defence of the
suit but just few days back we see them trying to put some papers in
terms of the suit. We are not bothered. We want them to join issues with us to see whether we are entitled to these claims or not.”
Reacting, counsel to the state government, Barrister Ibn
Idris, Director, Civil Litigations, in the state Ministry of Justice, said that it was true that some former aides of ex-governor Isa Yuguda have dragged the state government to court over alleged severance gratuity.
“For you to get a clear picture of what gather claim is and what our responses is I think you have to refer to the processes we filed in exchange. They have served us with their claims and we have served them the government side of the defence. I advise you refer to the court processes since the matter is in court.
“The former aides claimed that they are entitled to furniture, allowances and referred to the relevant law. We on our part said that they were not, even if they are, there are certain things that must be considered as provided for by the law.
“I don’t want to go into details because the matter is before the court and it will be prejudiced for me to start discussing it before the court starts making any pronouncements.
“We are waiting for the court to decide and after that either sides determines what it is ,” he said.
(nigerianewsflight.com)
