The Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof Abdullahi Ribadu, and four other top officials have been dragged to court for contempt charges.

The officials are accused of disobeying a court order to reinstate a former NUC staff member, Mr Kunle Rotimi and provide him with all denied entitlements.

The court order, upheld by the Appeal Court on June 28, 2024, mandated NUC to comply immediately.

However, NUC management failed to comply, leading to the contempt charges.

The other defendants are NUC Deputy Executive Secretary, Mr Chris Maiyaki; Director, Finance & Accounts, Mrs Hauwa Amos; Director, Human Resources, Mrs Victoria Omoredion and the Deputy Director, Legal Services, Mr Pascal Eruoga.

The lower court had on July 6, 2020, ordered NUC to reinstate Mr Rotimi and give him all his denied entitlements, comprising payments of accrued salaries, allowances, emoluments, bonuses, privileges and benefits, from March 1996 up to the date of the judgment.

Not satisfied with the decision, the NUC appealed against the judgement but lost as the Court of Appeal, Lagos dismissed the appeal in its entirety.

The Appeal Court upheld the verdict of the trial court on June 28, 2024, and ordered NUC to comply immediately.

Ten months later, NUC management had not complied with the court order.

The cause of action arose in 1995/96 when NUC management offered Mr Rotimi full sponsorship approval for training.

He claimed that because he refused the demand for gratification by some management officials to facilitate the release of funds for the master’s degree course at the University of Ibadan, his approved course allowances and salaries were unlawfully and arbitrarily withheld.

This, he said, compelled him to resign voluntarily in protest.

NUC maliciously rejected the resignation and dismissed him without a fair hearing.

He sued at the National Industrial Court in a suit marked NICN/ LA/646/2018 and later NICN/LA/53m/2020.

After the hearings, the court held in favour of the claimant and ordered the respondent to reinstate him and pay him his accrued entitlements.

Dissatisfied, the respondents appealed at the court of appeal and still lost but refused to obey the judgement 10 months after.

Culled Guardian