The reporter takes passing view of the the issues that led to the dismissal of Dr. Bernard Ojeifo Longe, the erstwhile managing director and chief executive officer of First Bank of Nigeria Plc, by the board of the bank. We are concerned with the fact that his removal, according to the Supreme Court of Nigeria, did not follow
the due process of law, even if he was found to have committed an offence deemed to amount to gross misconduct.
Dr. Bernard Longe was said to have been sacked by the board of FBN on June 13, 2002 after an initial suspension from office. But the former MD challenged his sack at the Federal High Court and later Court of Appeal, contending that he was not given a fair hearing at the extraordinary board meeting of the bank, where the decision to dismiss him was reached. The lower courts found his claim unmeritorious and dismissed it. But the apex court, in its ruling on Friday, March 5, 2010 thought otherwise. "From the available appeal supported by tangible evidence," wrote Justice George Oguntade, "the board of the bank did not only act outside its function but also humiliated the appellant by exposing him to ridicule. The appeal is allowed, the removal did not follow the due process especially as provided in CAMA Section
266(3) for the removal of the managing director. Mr. Longe, who was unlawfully sacked by the Board and Management of the First Bank of Nigeria Plc eight years ago, is hereby reinstated." First Bank was equally ordered to pay the backlog of Longe's salaries and allowances from the date of his unlawful dismissal.
We deplore the penchant of Nigerians for quick recourse to the rule of will in official relations. This
is antithetical to the rule of law, without which no society can make any meaningful progress socially, politically and economically. As a matter of fact, it may be said that the present parlous state of the nation is a product of a pervasive culture of disregard for due process, the rule of law and constitutionalism. Those who have the power to hire must, in the exercise of the power to fire, uphold the sanctity of the terms of employment and relevant (labour) laws regulating employer-employee relations.
We wish to state that the modern state, being a social service one, frowns at unlawful dismissal of any worker not only because it violates the right of the worker but in addition puts the state on trial. An entrenched culture of injustice, in our view, is a recipe for social disaster. Therefore, the Legal Aid Council and other such initiatives in the states, which are currently hamstrung by paucity of funds and mired in administrative
inefficiency, must be immediately restructured and invigorated so that they can discharge their duties responsively and responsibly. Government could also follow in the footsteps of Britain by setting up industrial tribunals, which are easily accessed by the ordinary worker.
Nonetheless, we reiterate that it is the responsibility of the State to place mechanisms for easy access to justice at the disposal of those hapless Nigerians that are at present languishing in the prison of injustice.Above all, we implore all employers of labour to at all times be guided by the contract of employment and relevant extant laws, local and international, in their relationship with their employees in order to avoid untoward legal consequences.MILORD.
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