Mr Ayo Olowonihi was a level 17 officer at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and Commandant of the commission’s academy in 2015 when Ibrahim Magu was appointed Acting Chairman of EFCC. After putting in almost 15 years in the service of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency , he had elected to retire voluntarily, and later joined the EFCC.
In the query dated December 22, 2015, Olowonihi was accused of sponsoring negative publications against the EFCC in an online medium. He did not only deny the allegations but said he was the first person to draw the attention of Larmode to the publications since he was the chairman when the said reports were published. Olowonihi said his emails and bank accounts were investigated, but nothing incriminating or linking him to the publications was found.
In its judgement, the National Industrial Court of Nigeria in Abuja reversed his demotion. Justice Musa Kado, who delivered the judgement, ordered Olowonihi to be reinstated as Detective Commandant, Grade Level 17, after he set aside a letter of reinstatement, which had downgraded him to Grade Level 16, for being illegal, null and void.
Kado further noted that while the absence of signature on the document might not necessarily make it invalid, there was no commencement date to show when it actually came into force. He held that the approval of the draft by the chairman did not amount to approval by the commission, which had been empowered by law to do so.
Similarly, on the issue of fair hearing, the judge agreed with the claimant that the fact that he was not given the opportunity to defend himself before the ad hoc committee set up to investigate him and two others rendered the whole exercise a nullity. Curiously, the court refused to grant the prayers of the claimant on the payment of all his salaries and allowances within the period of the suspension on the grounds that the claimant failed to prove that he was entitled to such relief.
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Source: DailyPostNGR - 🏆 11. / 59 Read more »