By Amos Aar
THE Makurdi Division of the National Industrial Court presided over by the Honourable Justice I. J. Essien again on Tuesday adjourned sitting till February 8, 2023 following the absence of counsel to defendants.
The suit, filed by four sacked employees of Government House, Makurdi, is challenging the what they alleged is the unlawful termination of their appointments in 2017 by the Benue State Government under Governor Ortom over alleged theft of a plasma television set and two generator batteries from Government House, Makurdi.
When the matter was called on Tuesday, November 1, 2022, for further hearing, the presiding judge was forced to further adjourn due to the absence of counsel to the defendants, Mike Assoh Esq.
The suit was filed on August 30, 2017 with minimal progress since then, and with barely six months left in office, the matter is very likely to be inherited by Governor Ortom’s successor in office as he is set to exit on May 29, 2023.
National Record had reported on September 7, 2022 how the plaintiffs, Agbo Lucky, Yaasa Simon Igbalagh, Godwin Gbande and Terver Gbakaan had cried out over what they described undue delay in the suit filed with the intention to get justice.
They were summarily sacked two years into the administration of the incumbent Governor Ortom in 2017.
Counsel to the sacked employees, D.D. Aboshi Dogara Esq., expressed worry over the delay in the determination of the suit and decried the serial adjournments that had made the matter to linger for over six years.
In the suit No. NKN/MKD/59/2017, the Benue State Government, Governor Samuel Ortom and the Benue State Ministry of Justice, are 1st, 2nd and 3rd defendants, respectively.
The plaintiffs are seriously worried that the government is using might to deny them justice.
