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Industrial court summons 171 ex-councilors who sued Yobe govt

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The National Industrial Court sitting in Bauchi has ordered the 171 former Councilors who served in Yobe State and dragged the state government before to the court appear before it.

The former Councilors are expected to appear before the Court in order to testify on their claim of non settlement of their entitlement having served between 2013 and 2015.

The former Councilors are demanding that the Yobe State Government should pay them their entitlements as contained in all relevant laws of service.

Our correspondent who was at the Court on Monday when the matter came up spoke with the leader of the former Councilors, Hon Ali Gaje Gashua who said that all the 171 of them served diligently throughout their tenure without fault.

He however lamented that the State government has refused to pay them what legitimately belongs to them since they completed their tenure saying that the amount accruable to each of them range from N2m to N4m depending on the office held by the individual.

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Ali Gaje said that it then became expedient on them to come to the Court as a last resort considering the fact that many other political office holders in the state were promptly settled while they were exempted.

He therefore on behalf of others pleaded with the Court to intervene in their case and compel the Yobe State government to pay them all their entitlements.

Ali Gaje also lamented that a letter of withdrawal from the case was purportedly written by some faceless people in order to thwart their efforts saying all of them are committed to the matter and will see it to the end.

Also, Alhaji Zubair Kansila Bursali who spoke with Journalists said that they are appealing to the state government to have mercy and pay them their entitlement to enable them have a means of taking care of their families considering that it was what they served for.

Another former Councilor, Garba Sarki Potiskum said that as a person living with disability, he had never stopped struggling to seek for justice to claim what rightly belonged to them assuring that they would pursue the case to a logical conclusion.

Having listened to the complaint, the presiding Judge, Mustapha Tijjani ordered that all of the plaintiffs must appear before the Court so that the Court will take judicial notice of them and hear from them before giving judgment.

At the end of exchange of arguments between the two legal representations, Ahmed Igoche for the plaintiffs and Don Aguse for the Yobe state government which is the defendant, the Judge, Mustapha Tijjani ordered that all the 171 Councilors should appear before the Court on 24th November, 2022 to give witness before the court would deliver its judgment.

By Yemi Kanji,

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