Court declares removal of ex-Enugu education boss ‘illegal’

Untitled-12Raphael Ede writes on the resounding judgment of an Enugu High Court which declared the removal of the former chairman of the Enugu State Universal Education Board as “illegal”

“The Man Died” is not when he stops breathing but when he can no longer resist injustice. Mrs. Ethel Nebo-Ezeabasili, former Chairman of the Enugu State Universal Education Board, was ousted because she refused to yield to shape practices in the state education sub-sector as dictated by the “de-facto” governor, Mrs. Ifeoma Nwobodo.
But for her it was a price for resisting injustice even as she wasn’t deterred. She, however, approached the Enugu State High Court in a suit No. E/444/2012, seeking for redress through her counsel while on exile.
It was sweet victory for her when the court presided over by Justice C.I Nwobodo on Wednesday, 18th June, 2014 delivered a landmark judgment declaring her premature removal from office in 2012 as illegal and unconstitutional.

In the suit No. E/444/2012 between Chief Mrs. E. Nebo and others Vs Mrs. Ifeoma Nwobodo and others, the court awarded the sum of N10 million as damages and the sum of N100,000 cost against the Governor Sullivan Chime-led government for “illegal and unconstitutional actions against” Ezeabasili.
She had approached the State High Court in Enugu to declare her removal from office as illegal and unconstitutional and to award her damages over a trumped up allegation that she embezzled over N245 million belonging to the State Government.
Her lawyer Chief Tagbo Ike was said to have expressed gratitude to the judge and judiciary for standing high against lawlessness intended to tarnish the integrity and reputation his client had built over the years. He described the judgment as a “triumph of justice over injustice and impunity”.
“This shows that evil and political tyranny will never prevail over truth, justice, and due process forever”, he was quoted.

Reacting to the judgement, a civil society activist, Mr. Damian Okenwa described the judgment as “victory for democracy.”He added: “The fact that the verdict was given by a courageous and Honourable Justice of the Enugu State High Court against a sitting government of the same state shows that the judiciary remains the last hope of the common man; and that all hope is not lost for this nation.”
“The ruling is another food for thought for the state government and a warning to retrace its steps. She has won the war by exposing to the world the manner of government we have in the state.”
He further stressed that the former Enugu State SUBEB Chairman had also made a point to the effect that “a public servant who has integrity and courage can say no to corrupt orders from the highest quarters.”

But in a swift reaction to the judgment the state government announced in a news release made available to newsmen that it had filed notice of appeal before the Court of Appeal sitting in Enugu to set aside judgment.
According to the release, the notice filed by the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice of Enugu State, Anthony I. Ani (SAN), faulted the judgment in its entirety; adding that the presiding judge ignored obvious loopholes in the case.
The state government argued that sequel to misconducts of Mrs. Nebo-Ezeabasili including alleged defrauding of the government to the tune N230,245,000 million belonging to ENSUBEB, had been investigated by the police and she is currently standing trial in charge number E/21C/2014 for stealing.

The AG said though she has continued to evade all attempts to serve her with the notice of trial, her surety who took her on bail from the police, had been served with the papers in order to bring the run-away defendant to court.
According to the AG, one of the grounds of the appeal filed on June 30, 2014 was that the learned trial judge, C.I. Nwobodo erred in law in failing to resolve the fundamental issue of jurisdiction before going into the substantive case.
Ani argued that three months pre-action notice was not served on the first and second defendants (Mrs. Ifeoma Nwobodo as Chief of Staff to Governor Sullivan Chime and Amaechi Okolo, Secretary to the State Government) as they were sued in their official capacities.

“The learned trial judge erred in law when she held that the appellants (Nwobodo and Okolo) being political appointees are not entitled to the pre-action notice mandatorily provided for public officers under the State Proceedings Law.”
Another ground of the appeal was that there were contentious issues of facts before the parties, making the proceedings “hostile” which required trial by ordinary writ of summons, pleadings and oral evidence. Government’s other disagreement with Nwobodo’s ruling was that she was wrong to have accepted that “a private legal practitioner can institute an action on behalf of a statutory body owned by the State Government without being authorized by the Attorney-General of Enugu State.”

“Throughout the proceedings, Mrs. Nebo-Ezeabasili never appeared in court and did not prove any damages flowing naturally from her removal from office for misconduct. Yet, the trial judge awarded her ten million naira for damages”, Ani argued.
Recalled that Ezeabasili was removed from office in November 2012 following an alleged running battle between her and the Chief of Staff to Governor Sullivan Chime, Mrs. Nwobodo over the running of the State Universal Basic Education Board.

Mrs. Nebo-Ezeabasili in a petition at the time to the Insector-General of Police entitled:“Save my Soul: Threat to My Life, Harassment and Intimidation by Mrs. Ifeoma Nwobodo, Chief of Staff to the Governor of Enugu State” and dated February 13, 2013, Mrs. Ezeabasili had alleged that the core of the onslaught against her by Mrs. Nwobodo was her “principled stand against irregularities in award of contracts.”
She alleged that once she fought for and the state was able to access the matching grant for years 2009, 2010, and 2011, the Chief of Staff set up what she called Education Sector Committee with herself (Mrs. Nwobodo) as the Chairman and the Special Adviser to the Governor on Compliance, Mrs. Uche Nwoye as the Secretary.

Other members were Commissioner for Education, Dr. Simon Ortuanya; the ENSUBEB Chairman, Mrs. Ethel Nebo Ezeabasili; former Attorney-General of Enugu State, Barr. Nduka Ikeyi; Executive Secretary, Economic Planning Commission, Mr. Dan Onyishi; and four Local Government Council Chairmen led by Mr. Cornelius Nnaji allegedly married to the governor’s relation.
She alleged that after several breach of the national Universal Basic Education Commission, UBEC guidelines, which the Executive Secretary of SPEB and herself called the attention of both the Governor and Mrs. Nwobodo severally to, another action plan was prepared to match the design of Mrs. Nwobodo.

She alleged: “As soon as the Action Plan was approved, the Commissioner for Education in a letter Ref ENS/ME/COM/253/11/227 dated 10th July, 2012 informed me that a committee had been set up for the award of ENSUBEB Contracts. I was completely excluded. The Contract Award Committee rather than considering all the applications only considered a few and approved only four companies to execute a contract of 583 projects.
“The companies’ names so approved were” New Techniques Nigeria Limited, Raycon Nigeria Limited, J&J Techno Nigeria Limited, and Akiota Work Nigeria Limited”.

“By the Procurement Act, no contractor is expected to tender or be awarded more than one lot, but in this case, the committee approved only four companies to execute 583 projects, in spite of the fact that I told them that it was not politically expedient and did not follow Due Process,” she alleged
The former ENSUBEB Chairman also alleged that in addition to the N3.6 billion and 583 projects being carried out by four companies, “Eremite Ltd was to roof all the school buildings while Intercolour Paints Ltd which was actually fronts was to supply all the paintings.
As the battle now shifts to the Court of Appeal, will the judiciary live above board? Enugu people wait justice.