Judgment didn’t void Maina’s dismissal

IN spite of the allegation that the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), misinterpreted a court verdict and masterminded the reinstatement of the former chairman of the Presidential Task Force Team on Pension Matters, Abdulrasheed Maina, into the civil service, the AGF has refused to speak.

Also, the judgment of Justice Adamu Bello in the fundamental right enforcement suit filed by Maina, which Malami said gave him (Maina) a clean-bill-of-health only quashed the warrant of arrest against him by the Senate. It did not void his dismissal from service for abscondment.

The judgment, which was delivered on March 27, 2013, only faulted the process that led to the issuance of the warrant of arrest against Maina.

The court held that there was no evidence that the investigation by the Senate against Maina commenced in accordance with the provisions of Section 88(1) of the 1999 Constitution, adding that Senate investigative committee failed to annex vital documents to show that the ex-pension boss was accorded fair treatment before the warrant of arrest was issued against him.

Excerpts from the judgment by Justice Bello read: “The implication of the failure to produce and annex these vital documents to the counter affidavit of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 8th and 9th respondents is that there is no evidence before me to show that the investigation commence by the said respondents is one validly commenced in accordance with the provisions of Section 88(1) of the 1999 Constitution.

“If it has not been validly commenced in accordance with the Constitution, it follows that the summons or invitation to the Applicant (Maina) to appear before the [Senate] Committee would not have been validly issued and ipso facto, the warrant of arrest was not validly issued.

“In the circumstances therefore, I am bound to set aside the warrant of arrest issued by the 2nd respondent which threatens the right of the applicant to his personal liberty.

“Consequently, the warrant of arrest issued by the 2nd respondent for the arrest of the applicant is set aside.

“I grant relief-1 contained in the statement. I also grant an order of perpetual injunction restraining the respondents jointly and/or severally by themselves and or their agent, privies, servants, however so called, from arresting the applicant on account of the warrant of arrest which has been set aside.

“However, beyond these two reliefs, given all the facts available to the court, the applicant is not entitled to any other relief.

“My decision is based purely on the failure of the respondents to annex the vital documents I mentioned otherwise the applicant would not have any case at all.

“The decision should not, therefore, send a wrong signal to the public that the Senate does not have the power to cause an investigation within the purview of the powers conferred on it by Sections 88 and 89 of the Constitution with respect to the matters enumerated therein.

“It has such powers and when properly exercised, it can summon any person in Nigeria to give evidence and can also compel the attendance of any such person.

“Let me end the judgment by advising the applicant to submit himself voluntarily to the investigation by the senate in order to show that he respects constituted authority. It is the least expected of him as a public officers and as a citizen of Nigeria”.

Joined as respondents in the fundamental right enforcement suit Maina filed in 2013 to quash the arrest warrant against him were the Senate, the Senate President, Clerk of the Senate, Senate Committee on Establishment and Public Service, Senate Committee on State and Local Government Administration, Inspector General of Police, Attorney General of the Federation, Senator Aloysius Etok and Senator Kabiru Gaya.

The AGF, in February, wrote to the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC), directing it to give consequential effect to a judgement delivered in 2013 by the Federal High Court in Abuja presided over by Justice Adamu Bello (now retired), which the AGF said voided the process that led to Maina’s dismissal from service.

It was on the strength of the letter that the FCSC, in June 2017, requested the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation to advise the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Interior to consider the AGF’s letter and make appropriate recommendations regarding Maina’s recall.

In line with the directive of the Attorney General, the Ministry of Interior, at its Senior Staff Committee meeting held in the same month, recommended that Maina be reinstated into the Service as Deputy Director on Salary Grade Level 16, based on the AGF’s letter and, consequent upon that, the FCSC, last August, approved Maina’s reinstatement.

He was, however, sent packing by President Muhammadu Buhari following public outcry over his reinstatement.

Reacting on the issue, the Special Adviser, Media and Publicity to the AGF, Comrade Salihu Othman Isah, told Saturday Tribune in Abuja that the minister acted in the interest of the public.

The AGF’s spokesman, who did not go further on the issue said, “We will not speak any further on the issue until the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice appears before the Senate.”

The Senate had asked that Malami appear before it with respect to the investigation into the circumstances surrounding Maina’s reinstatement.