The Nigeria Union of Pensioners has commenced contempt proceedings before the National Industrial Court, Ibadan Division, against the Attorney General of Ogun State, Mr. Oluwasina Ogungbade (SAN), praying that the AG be sent to prison for alleged disobedience of a court order.
In a Form 86 filed before the court through its lawyer, Mr. Femi Aborisade, the NUP accused the Ogun AG of disobeying May 7, 2021, the judgment of Justice Opeloye Ogunbowale, which affirmed that retired Heads of Service and Permanent Secretaries in Ogun State remain members of the NUP.
The judge had nullified a parallel union – Association of Retired Heads of Service and Permanent Secretaries – formed by the Ogun retirees.
The judge further held that being members of the NUP, one percent of the monthly pensions of the retired Ogun HoS and PS should be paid to the NUP as check-off dues.
In consequence, the judge ordered the Bureau of State Pension, Ogun State, and the state’s attorney general to supply the NUP with the list of the Ogun retired HoS and PS and to remit, to the NUP all such check-off dues hitherto deducted from their monthly pensions.
Justice Ogunbowale held, “The defendants, jointly and severally, should calculate and refund to the claimant (NUP) all the backlog of the check-off dues of all eligible members of the claimant, which were deducted and remitted to the first defendant (Registered Trustees of the Association of Retired Heads of Service and Permanent Secretaries, Ogun State) from September 2015.”
However, the NUP, in its contempt application, alleged that nearly a year after Justice Ogunbowale’s judgment, the Ogun State attorney general had refused to obey it.
The union is, therefore, urging the court to send the AG to prison for alleged contempt of court or disobedience of court order.
On January 17, 2022, Justice J.D. Peters, before whom the contempt application was filed, ordered that the application be served on the AG through substituted means by publishing the same in a national newspaper.
