Librarian drags Jega to court over ‘illegal’ sack
Follo
wing the termination of his appointment as Librarian of Plateau State University, Dr. James Mato Gwang has dragged the university management and its Pro-Chancellor, Prof. Attahiru Jega, to the Industrial Court in Jos.
wing the termination of his appointment as Librarian of Plateau State University, Dr. James Mato Gwang has dragged the university management and its Pro-Chancellor, Prof. Attahiru Jega, to the Industrial Court in Jos.In Suit No. NICN/Jos/39/2015, Dr. Gwang also lumped in the entire University Governing Council and the Vice-Chancellor as respondents.
In the complaint filed at the Industrial Court, Jos, by his Counsel, Bitrus Fwangshak, the plaintiff is seeking the court to direct the respondents to calculate and pay him all accumulated salaries and other remunerations from the month of May, 2015 to date.
In an alternative prayer, the plaintiff is seeking an order of court directing the respondents to compute and pay him all the salaries, allowances and other perquisite of office he would have enjoyed from September 2015 to 28th February, 2018, when he would have fully served his tenured appointment.
Gwang wants the court to declare that having been appointed as the university’s librarian for a fixed term of 5 years with effect from March 1, 2013, and having been functioning in that office, he has acquired a vested interest, which cannot in anyway be taken away except in accordance with the provision of the Plateau State University Law, No. 4, 2006.
He also wants the court to declare that the proceedings and all resolutions reached at the 31st regular meeting of the Governing Council at the Council Chambers on September 10, 2015, is null and void ab initio, as it affects him because, the Council was not properly constituted.
Furthermore, the plaintiff wants the court to declare that the respondents cannot contract out of statute (the Plateau State University Law) by altering the membership of the Governing Council and include into it, the representative of the National University Commission to participate in the proceedings of the council taking adverse decision against him.
He also wants the court to declare that the presence of the representative of the National Universities Commission (NUC) in the person of Mr. Christopher Maiyaki, at the Governing Council meeting held on September 10, 2015, renders all resolutions arrived at, there, as null and void, as it concerns him, since the University Law, 2006, does not in any way contemplate a representative of the NUC, as a member of the Governing Council.
According to the plaintiff, he was not given fair hearing as the Vice Chancellor who he claimed was allegedly indicted by the report, seated actively in the meeting and presented allegations against him.