The alleged case of wrongful dismissal brought against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, by two of its former employees: Juliet Ibekaku, former assistant director, Legal and prosecution and Michael Nzekwe, prosecutor in Legal and Prosecution Department, before Justice Babatunde A. Adejumo of the National Industrial Court, NIC, has been adjourned to May 27, 2015.
It will be recalled that, the case
was initially scheduled for Monday, May 18, 2015 but, had to be shifted to
today for undisclosed reasons. This is the second time within a week, the case
will suffer such shift in similar circumstance.
Ibekaku and Nzekwe were dismissed by
EFCC for desertion which is a serious offence against discipline going by the
provisions of Section 43(e) (i) of the EFCC Staff Regulation which states that
“Any officer who wilfully absents for twenty one (21) consecutive days shall be
guilty of the offense of desertion and shall be dismissed from the Commission
as a deserter.”
The duo are contesting their dismissal
from the Commission which according to them did not follow due process. They
are praying for an order of the court to reinstate them.
Nzekwe was said to have abandoned
his duty post for more than 21 days without authorisation or leave. Upon being
queried for absenting himself from work without authorization, the officer
claimed he travelled to the United States ,” to shop for medical options”, for
his wife, Agatha who had an alleged renal challenge and was hospitalized in
India .
This information was found to be
false, as evidence emerged that Nzekwe went on a pleasure trip to the United
States.
On her part, Ibekaku was dismissed
after an exhaustive disciplinary process when it emerged that she abandoned her
job after she was redeployed to the Legal and Prosecution Department in the
Lagos zonal office of the Commission. Following her deployment on 15 November
2013, she reported to her new station for documentation on 21 November, 2013
and left without leave or authorisation
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