PIAN Files New Suits At National Industrial Court Against FG

By Saidu Abubakar

Three top Senior Advocates of Nigeria – Dr. Paul Harris Ogbole SAN, High Chief A.A. Malik, SAN and Dr. Mohammed Ndarani Mohammed SAN, ably assisted by 10 other top lawyers, under the aegis of Public Interest Advocacy Network (PIAN), have filed two lawsuits at the Industrial Court, against the Attorney-General of the Federation, declaring that the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria lacks the Constitutional Powers to unilaterally set retirement ages for some categories of public and civil servants at 70 years while leaving others at 60, among other grudges.

Chief Madaki Omadachi Ameh, Convener, Public Interest Advocacy Network (PIAN), had formally notified members of the body saying: “Greetings, fellow members of PIAN!

“I am pleased to report that, In furtherance of our determination to straighten governance in Nigeria and get things moving in the right direction, we have filed two new lawsuits against the Attorney-General of the Federation. The details of the two suits are as follows:

FIRST SUIT:

1. A declaration that the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria lacks the Constitutional Powers to unilaterally set retirement ages for different categories of public and civil servants, and that having already set retirement ages for some categories of public and civil servants at 70 years while leaving others at 60, this policy has created discontent and discrimination within the public service and should be harmonized uniformly at 70 years, or at the discretion of the employee;
2. That all those paid from the public purse should therefore retire from service at 70 years;
3. That all those prematurely retired from service at 60 during the tenure of this administration should be recalled to their duty posts, or if impracticable, should be paid their full salaries and emoluments until their retirement age of 70.

SECOND SUIT:

1. A declaration that there should be a national minimum wage and a national maximum wage, within which everyone paid from the public purse must be remunerated;
2. That political office holders are not at liberty to fix outrageous salaries and emoluments for themselves by whatever name known, and that any public officer who causes payments from the public purse to be made outside the laid down national minimum wage and the nationl maximum wage commits a financial crime for which such a person is liable to prosecution by the EFCC;
3. That the National Maximum wage should be set at N3m per month for the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the national minimum wage be set at N135k for the least paid personnel in the public service, in line with the UN prescribed minimum standards of $3:00 per day;
4. That the President and all other public officers must pay their own bills for expenses such as feeding, logistics, etc from their earned income, rather than the current outrageous provisions in the national budgets for such expenses. For instance, in the 2024 budget, an outrageous sum of N9 billion was provided for feeding the President and his family, translating to over N200m daily!
   This suit is meant to remove the attraction of public service and political offices, such that anyone going there knows that it is purely for service to the people and nothing else.

The Convener further stated that “scanned copies of the Originating Summons as filed in both cases, will be circulated along with this message, for full information”.

The suit was filed by three top Senior Advocates of Nigeria – Dr. Paul Harris Ogbole SAN, High Chief A.A. Malik, SAN and Dr. Mohammed Ndarani Mohammed SAN, ably assisted by 10 other top lawyers!

The notification also said that “these are interesting times indeed, especially when we recall that last week Friday, we also filed, on behalf of PIAN and its members, a lawsuit against INEC to level the playing field for all aspirants to political party offices, such that anyone who earns the national minimum wage should be able to afford the cost of nomination forms to aspire to the highest political office in Nigeria, so that public office does not become the exclusive preserve of the very obscenely rich, as it is currently the case, when 99.9% of such funds are stolen from the public purse!”

It also advised members to watch out for more interesting law suits which are in the works, including:

1. An order restraining the Federal Government from implementing the provisions of the new tax laws which will impose additional burdens on hapless Nigerians for no just cause, until the government transparently accounts for all the tax revenues collected in the recent past;
2. An order declaring the discriminatory electricity tariffs into bands, as unconstitutional, having regards to the fact that Nigeria is the only country in the world where electricity is billed in such a discriminatory and explorative manner.

Further details will be contained in the Originating Summons as filed, when they are ready in the next couple of days, the Convener further revealed.