A former Director General, DG, of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Mohammed Dauda, who was removed, has been reinstated by the Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, on Thursday.
While delivering the judgment, Justice Peter Ige said the evidence leading to the dismissal of Dauda was frivolous and lacking in merit.
The Judge also resolved all the contentious issues against NIA in favor of Dauda, who is a respondent in the suit.
He then ordered that his salaries and entitlements since the day of his dismissal from office be paid.
The appellate court also gave an order that the sum of N1 million be paid to Dauda.
Justice Ige held further: “Dauda should be allowed to retire in service in accordance with the stipulated laws.”
“There is no evidence before the court that shows that the respondent has constituted any risk or breached any law.
“The appellant’s appeal is hereby dismissed for lacking in merit, and the Industrial Court judgment is hereby affirmed.”
Dauda, it will be recalled, acted as the head of the security agency from November 2017 to January 2018, when he was replaced by an aide to President Muhammadu Buhari.
Dauda had spent just a few months on the job before he was removed.
Dissatisfied by his unjust removal, Dauda challenged his removal in court, saying his dismissal from service did not follow due process and was wrongful.
He argued that, in contravention of the law, no Special Management Staff of the Disciplinary Committee (SMSDC) was set up to investigate the charges against him, and he was not given any fair hearing afterwards.
In an earlier judgment delivered by Justice Olufunke Anuwe, the court had ordered the reinstatement of Dauda as the head of the National Intelligence Agency and the payment of salaries and entitlements from March 2018 until date after finding that his dismissal fell short of the NIA Act.
In the judgment, it was held that, under the agency’s rule, the appropriate committee to investigate disciplinary cases against management staff is the management staff disciplinary committee, “not the special management staff disciplinary committee.”
Vanguard
