The National Industrial Court, Abuja has fixed March 31 to deliver ruling in an application seeking to issue warrants for contempt of court against the Nigeria Immigration Service Comptroller-General, Muhammed Babandede, and Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola.
Justice Rakiya Haastrup fixed a date for the ruling on Wednesday following an application for the respondents to appear before the court to show cause why they should not be committed to prison for not complying with the judgment of the court that directed that they should align the rank of an ex-staff, Made Oguntoyinbo, to Comptroller of Immigration or face the possibility of a jail term.
Justice Haastrup adjourned the matter until March 31 for ruling after Mr Ogutoyinbo’s counsel, Femi Adedeji, brought the application for notice of consequences of disobedience to order of court in pursuant to Order 9 Rule 13 of Judgment Enforcement Rule.
The application, in addition, sought the respondents to obey the directive contained in the order of the judgment delivered on March 29, 2019, by the same court.
Oguntoyinbo alleges that he was denied promotion several times by the respondents and when he was eventually allowed to participate in an exam to gain promotion in 2015, his result was never released.
The judgment further ordered that the respondents should immediately release his result in the 2015 promotion exercises and align his rank to that of Comptroller of Immigration, as his contemporaries who joined the service the same time with the claimant.
The court had directed the NIS to pay Oguntoyinbo the sum of N9.7million as his salary arrears.
The NIS was also directed to pay him the sum of N2million as general damages and N250,000 as cost of prosecuting the suit.
