The Presiding Judge, Kaduna Judicial Division of the National Industrial Court has declared that the provisions (if any) of the Public Service Rules (2005 edition) of Kaduna State which makes the filing of a suit by an employee against his employer a serious act of misconduct for which the employee is liable to be punished is void to the extent of its conflict with the rights of the Claimant to seek redress in Court by virtue of Section 6(6) and Chapter IV of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).
The Court declared that the verbal threats of dismissal given by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Kaduna State, to Mr Jonathan on the 16th of June, 2019, as wrongful, null and void and liable to be set aside.
Justice Alkali granted AN ORDER of perpetual injunction restraining the Kaduna State Government, Ministry of Education, Science And Technology, and 2 others, their agents, representatives assigns, howsoever and whomsoever, etc from taking any further steps to discipline Mr Jonathan only because he filed suit against the State Government or generally in respect of the facts of this case, and awarded the exemplary damages in the sum of Five Hundred Thousand Naira (N500,000.00) for the act of oppression practiced on Mr Jonathan.
From facts, the claimant, Mr Jonathan had submitted that while serving as a Teacher at Government Secondary School, the Kaduna State Government, Ministry of Education, Science and Technology allocated housing to him through a letter dated June 22, 2015, where he resided and commuted to his teaching position without any productivity complaints.
Mr Jonathan further averred that in 2015, the Kaduna State Government, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, and 2 others implemented a policy to eject teachers living in school quarters who were teaching elsewhere, forming an Ejection Task Force. The Task Force forcibly removed his properties from the house and locked it thereafter. To date, his personal effects have been carted away by some persons unknown to him due to the action of the State Government.
As a result, Mr Jonathan filed a suit in the Industrial Court regarding the ill-treatment he experienced, which is still pending. Further, the State Government and Ministry of Education, Science and Technology issued a query to him via a letter on June 25, 2019, on the grounds of an alleged Serious act of misconduct for an employee to sue his employer while in active service and in line with the PSR, to which he responded the next day.
Mr Jonathan sought A DECLARATION that the provisions (if any) of the Public Service Rules (2005 edition) of Kaduna State which makes the filing of a suit by an employee against his employer a serious act of misconduct for which the employee is liable to be punished is void to the extent of its conflict with the rights of the Claimant to seek redress in Court by virtue of Section 6(6) and Chapter IV of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) amongst others.
In the statement of defence, the defendants- Kaduna State Government, Ministry of Education, Science And Technology, and 2 others averred that allocation of staff quarters to persons in employment of the State Government is not a right but a privilege, that while other teachers affected by the new policy complied with the directives Mr Jonathan despite being aware and fully informed adamantly and arrogantly refused to comply with the directives frustrating the efforts of the government.
The defendants maintained that after all efforts to ensure that Mr Jonathan complied with the new directives failed, a query dated 23rd of February, 2016, in line with the provisions of the Public Service Rules, was issued to Mr Jonathan. Subsequently, a second query dated the 25th of June, 2019, was issued to Mr Jonathan. Since both queries were issued to Mr Jonathan, no adverse steps have been taken against him.
In opposition, the claimant’s counsel, E.N. Ogbu Esq submitted that the entirety of the Defendants’ statement of defence has no life in it as same failed to challenged the material facts of his client which are in issue to the effect that having suffered to institute a matter before the Honourable Court sitting at Kano Division, the Defendants sought to curtail same vide another query leading to the institution of the instant suit to declare same as being unconstitutional, null and void to the extent of its inconsistency.
In a well-considered judgment, the presiding Judge, Justice Bashar Alkali, held that no Public Service Rule makes filing a suit against an employer gross misconduct, and the implication is that the Defendants issued a second query out of their sheer ignorance of what constitutes gross misconduct under the Public Service.
The Court reiterated that the Constitution is supreme, and any law/act of a person or authority which deprives a citizen of access to justice is void.
“In view of unchallenged evidence of the Claimant, the Court will have no option but to believe the Claimant where he stated that the permanent secretary of the 2nd Defendant intimidated him with the threat of dismissal. Threatening an employee with dismissal on account of seeking judicial redress is not only asinine, but also it is a medieval act in the 21st Century. I so hold.” Justice Alkali
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