by Ranti Joseph

The alleged case of wrongful dismissal of former assistant director, Legal and prosecution, Juliet Ibekaku and prosecutor in Legal and Prosecution Department, Michael Nzekwe, former employees of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) against them brought before Justice Babatunde Adejumo of the National Industrial Court (NIC) has again been adjourned to May 27.
The case was initially scheduled for May 18 but had to be shifted to Wednesday, May 21 for undisclosed reasons and now it has again been shifted making it the second time within a week, the case will suffer such shift in similar circumstance.

In a statement by the Head, Media & Publicity Wilson Uwujaren on Wednesday, both Ibekaku and Nzekwe were dismissed by EFCC for desertion, 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.”

I guess the dismissal didn’t go down well with the duo, so they are contesting their dismissal from the Commission which according to them did not follow due process, seeking for an order of the court to reinstate them.

Nzekwe was said to have abandoned his duty post for more than 21 days without authorization or leave. Upon being queried for absenting himself from work without authorization, he 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, information, which 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 November 15, 2013, she reported to her new station for documentation on November 21, 2013 and left without leave or authorization.

Consequently, she was dismissed on February 11, 2014, after 81 consecutive days of absence from work for desertion from duty post, contrary to Section 36 (l) (xi) of the EFCC Staff Regulation.

Janeth J