The request made by Nigeria’s Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, to stop the Senate from probing the reinstatement of Abdulrasheed Maina into the Civil Service has been rejected by the Federal High Court, Abuja. Maina, the former Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Pension Reforms, who was dismissed from service in 2013 over alleged corruption, was recalled last year and deployed to the Ministry of Interior.
It was learned that the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation had recommended the dismissal of Maina. The National Assembly is investigating his controversial reinstatement. But Malami, who is also the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), argued that the power of investigation vested on the National Assembly by section 88 (1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) was limited.
Justice Binta Nyako, who heard Malami’s ex parte application on Monday, ordered the minister to put the country’s federal lawmaking house on notice. The judge also directed that the court processes should be served on the National Assembly to enable it to appear before the court to show cause why the orders sought by the AGF should not be granted. She then adjourned the case until January 15.
Malami had asked the court to declare that, “the employment, attendance at work, disengagement, reinstatement and or promotion of a civil servant are matters outside the exclusive and concurrent legislative lists contained in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended);
“That the National Assembly cannot legitimately regulate the employment, attendance at work, disengagement, reinstatement and or promotion of a civil servant, which are matters exclusively within the purview of the Federal Civil Service Commission under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria1999 (as amended);
“That the National Assembly lacks the legislative competence to investigate the employment, attendance at work, disengagement, reinstatement and or promotion of a civil servant which are matters exclusively within the purview of the Federal Civil Service Commission under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria1999 (as amended).”
