THE Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal on Thursday restrained the recently appointed Public Trustee from taking over the administration of the Nigeria Civil Service Union (NCSU) pending the determination of an appeal that had been filed by the union over the matter which is already before it.
It would be recalled that the President of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN), the Honourable Justice B. B. Kanyip, late last year appointed Mr Monday O. Ubani, Esq., of Ubani & Co., No. 12 Adegbola Street, Ikeja, Lagos as Public Trustee to run the affairs of NCSU, which is Nigeria’s oldest industrial union, following the court’s nullification of the union’s January 2018 National Delegates Conference.
Mr Ubani had resumed at the union’s Wuse Zone 6 headquarters in January but had since then faced resistance from the Comrade Lawrence Amechi leadership of the union which argued that it was illegal for the court to appoint a Public Trustee while the case is on record to be on appeal.
Justice Kanyip, who signed Mr Ubani’s appointment letter, dated 29th December, 2020, stated that his (Ubani) appointment was sequel to the Order contained in the judgment delivered on 25th October 2019 by His lordship, the Honourable Justice Sanusi Kado of the Abuja Judicial Division of the NIC in the suit between Comrade Benson Ekasa and 1 other v. Comrade Kiri Mohammed (the then National President of NCSU).
At Thursday’s sitting in the Appeal Court, the three-man Panel of Justices held that the lower court erred in appointing a Public Trustee while appeal had already been entered in the matter. The panel therefore directed parties, including the Public Trustee, Mr Ubani, to maintain status quo ante until the appeal was determined.
The matter was then adjourned till Monday, March 15, 2021 for further hearing at Court 2 of the Court of Appeal, Abuja.
