The sacked members of the governing body of the Niger Delta  Development Commission have gone to court over their recent dismissal by President Buhari.

Claiming Sections 2, 3 and 5 of the NDDA Establishment Act, the embittered former executives claim that as they have a fixed period of appointment, their dismissal by the President therefore stands nullified.

Members of the board, led by Senator Bassey Ewa-Henshaw, through their counsel, Mr Ebun-Olu Adegborowa have asked the National Industrial Court sitting in Abuja, to declare that the president has no powers to sack them as their appointments are governed by statutes and is for a fixed period, which is yet to expire.

They also added that ” By virtue of the NDDC Establishment Act, the Governing Board of the commission cannot be dissolved, either through the letters dated July 16, 2015, Ref. No. SGF.19/S.81/XIX/964 and July 23, 2015, Ref. No. SGF.55/S.2, respectively, or in any other manner that constitutes a violation of sections 2,3,5 and other extant provisions of the said NDDC Act.”

They asked the court to direct their immediate reinstatement as “members of the 4th Governing Board of the NDDC in compliance with their respective letters of appointment and to direct the second defendant to pay all allowances, benefits and perquisites to which they, the claimants are otherwise entitled” 

Although no mention was made by the executives of the issue of the alleged missing N183.7 billion from the commission’s coffers. Neither have any statement been given on the reports by the auditor-general of the federation that revealed that certain fictitious multi-billion naira contracts were awarded, paid and backdated to last year, in a bid to cover alleged financial misdeeds.

Other defendants mentioned in the court summons are The Nigerian Senate and the House of Representatives.

Jummy Ariyo

September 201