Concerned Kano residents under the aegis of Prime Alliance Law Firm (PALF) have faulted the action of the state government on the appointment of a retired permanent secretary Abdullahi Musa as new Head of Service, describing it as an “aberration of civil service rules and pension laws and utmost public interest.”
This is just as the organisation also criticised the alleged reinstatement of another three senior public servants Umar Muhammad Halo, Aminu Shuaibu Rabo and Ada’u Lawan, who had left the service, back as permanent secretaries.
They urged the state governor Alhaji Abba Kabir Yusuf to as a matter of urgency reverse the decision to save his administration and Kano state of impunity in the name of political patronage.
According to a petition by the PALF, jointly signed by Safiyanu Hamza, Aliyu Ahmad, Abubakar Kiru and Jazuli Muhammad, and a copy made available to the press on Wednesday in Kano, the concerned residents insisted that the reinstatement of the HoS and the three others is violation of a standing judgment of the court.
The decision of the state government to return the four retired civil servants to service after attaining the peak of their career is an “aberration of civil service rules and pension laws and utmost public interest”.
However, the petition addressed to Governor Abba Kabiru Yusuf reminded that an existing judgment of the National Industrial Court in Kano, through a consent judgment delivered on 13th December 2022, has restrained the returnees to public service.
According to him,” It is the gravest concern and deepest disappointment and unequivocal rejection of the abuse of all ethical norms the recent government decision to reinstate certain retired permanent secretaries back to the state civil service.
“It is incomprehensible that some of these permanent secretaries have standing and subsisting judgments of the National Industrial Court sitting in Kano, filed by them and duly decided to vide a consent judgment.
“The implication of the clear pronouncement of the court in adopting the terms agreed by parties then, among other reliefs, barred them forever from civil service.
“It is however worries our clients that in the standing of a judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction, moves are made to return them to active service. We believe that if this process is not immediately rescinded, it unequivocally leads to promoting impropriety, violation of the clear terms of judgment and illegality which are alien to the state civil service.”
The complainants believed reinstatement of permanent secretaries who have started enjoying their retirement benefits contradicts the principles of justice and fairness, a breach of the rule of law and the civil service and pension system.
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