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EFCC Director Drags Magu To Court Over Allegation Of Wrongful Demotion

In the suit filed at Abuja division, of NIC, Olowonihi asked the court to declare his demotion as well as the processes that led to it as illegal and void.
The complainant said Magu demoted him from the Office of Commandant of EFCC Academy and redeployed him even while he was still being interrogated over allegations leveled against him

Mr. Ayo Olowonihi, a former commandant of the Academy of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC has dragged Ibrahim Magu, the acting chairman of the anti-graft agency to National Industrial Court over allegations of wrongful demotion. 

In the suit filed at Abuja division, of NIC, Olowonihi asked the court to declare his demotion as well as the processes that led to it as illegal and void.

The complainant said Magu demoted him from the Office of Commandant of EFCC Academy and redeployed him even while he was still being interrogated over allegations leveled against him.

The complainant said his troubles began on November 19, 2015, when the EFCC Chairman called him into his office and accused him of being behind certain publications on the activities of the Commission and against his person.

He added that in the course of interrogation, his official computer was withdrawn and his two phones were taken away.

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The complainant added that his office was thoroughly searched by a team of detectives and policemen before it was sealed up.

Olowonihi added that on December 22, 2015, he received a query accusing him of breaching certain sections of the Commission’s Staff Regulation Handbook, but he refuted that allegation in answer to the query the same day.

But the complainant said he was shocked when he was also served a letter of indefinite suspension from work without pay with immediate effect on the same day.

He added that on November 16, 2017, he was given a letter of reinstatement in which he was also demoted and was ordered to forfeit his salaries and emoluments over claims that the Senior Staff Promotions and Disciplinary Committee have found him guilty of breach of confidence.

Olowonihi said he rejected the conditions attached to the reinstatement in his reply to the letter two days later. 

The complainant said he rejected the terms of reinstatement because he was never called upon by the committee to defend himself against the purported allegations or any other misconduct.

He maintained that the commission Staff Regulation Handbook 2007, which served as the legal instrument that was used to back his questioning, demotion, forfeiture, and reinstatement, has not been ratified by the Commission or its Board.

Olowonihi further argued that only the Commission has disciplinary powers over a management staff since the said Commission/Board has not been constituted by the federal government since 2015.

After a series of cross-examination, the Counsel to Magu, Mr, Ibrahim Audu, asked the court to adjourn the hearing to enable him to prepare the defense of his client.

 Justice Kadu, therefore, fixed April 30, 2018, as the date for the continuation of the trial.