Justice R. H. Gwandu of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria sitting in Lagos has quashed the Bank of Industry’s purported sack of its Assistant General Manager, Sonny Ekedayen.
The judge set aside the termination letter issued by BoI to Ekedayen and ordered the bank to reinstate Ekedayen “forthwith and his salaries and allowances paid from the date of the purported termination,” adding that ‘’failure to pay same will be treated as contempt of this Honorable Court’s order and will attract a 10 per cent per annum interest until it is fully liquidated.”
The order was made in a judgment delivered on December 8, in suit NICN/LA/569/2015 filed by Ekedayen as the sole claimant against BoI’s Managing Director, Rasheed Olaoluwa and BoI as first and second defendants, respectively.
The claimant, who argued his case through his counsel, Mrs Abimbola Akeredolu, SAN, stated that he was an Assistant General Manager at BoI and has been in BoI’s employment since February 14, 2003.
He stated that he was 50 years old and had only served for 12 years in BoI as of November 20, 2015, when the 1st defendant Olaoluwa, without just cause or lawful authority ordered him to resign his employment with BoI or proceed on voluntary early retirement therefrom, on the basis that he (the 1st defendant) could no longer work with the claimant.
