The Industrial Court of Nigeria, sitting in Abuja, has declined the interlocutory injunction brought before it to halt the process for the appointment of a new Accountant General of the Federation until the main case is determined.
Justice Rekiya Haastrup of the Industrial Court, while declining the injunction, said many of the issues in the application would be determined in the main case. As such, it was not necessary to stop the process.
She, however, adjourned the case to March 25, 2025, for the continuation of the hearing on the matter.
Ibrahim Angulu, SAN, representing the claimant Joshua Kadmi Luka, urged the court to grant an accelerated hearing, given the importance of the matter and the timeline involved.
Also addressing Journalists after the court session, he said, “We applied for an interlocutory injunction, and she did not grant it, and she stated her reasons for not doing so.
“One of the reasons is that some of these issues will be determined at the main trial, so she cannot comment on them now.
“Secondly, she said, in the Public interest, and because there cannot be a vacuum if the process of appointing a new accountant General is stopped, it will not be in the public interest,” so those are the reasons.
The claimant, Joshua Kadmi Luka, a Director in the Federal Civil Service, approached the Court following his exclusion from participating in the selection process of the Accountant General, which is already ongoing over an allegation of fraud.
Ibrahim also said, “We contend that a mere allegation of crime without conviction cannot be used to exclude the claimant. The law is obvious; he has not been found guilty, so he cannot be excluded because of a mere allegation.”
Also, in an earlier letter to the Office of the Head of Service, the legal representative wrote that when “Our Client attempts to participate in the process of selection for Permanent Secretaries or Accountant General of the Federation, his name is permanently excluded, just as in this current exercise for Accountant General of the Federation.
“It is clear that allegations are only made against our Client at the appointment exercise. Be that as it may, a mere allegation should not exclude our Client from this exercise, as he has not been found guilty by a competent Court of Law for a criminal offence, neither the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) nor the Head of Service can convict him and punish him for these alleged criminal offences. Since he has not been convicted of any criminal offence, he is entitled to the presumption of innocence as enshrined in Section 36 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999.
“To exclude him at this stage from participating in this exercise will amount to punishing him for a criminal offence for which he has not been found guilty.” The letter said.
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