Court orders PSC to pay AIG Mbu N40m over unlawful retirement

The National Industrial Court has ordered the Police Service Commission (PSC) to pay AIG Joseph Mbu (Rtd) the sum of N40 million as general damages for his unlawful retirement before attaining the age of 60.

The verdict, which was passed on Monday by Justice Osatohanmwen Obaseki-Osaghae, also set aside the retirement of Mbu and declared that he remained an officer of the Nigeria Police Force {NPF} until he attained the mandatory retirement age of 60 on May 10, 2018.

“I hold that the claimant’s premature retirement through a press release on July 2, 2016, is unlawful, unconstitutional, null and void and of no effect,” Justice Obaseki-Osaghae ruled.

The judge also ordered that the sum of N750,000 be paid to the claimant as the cost of the suit, stating that failure of the defendant to comply with the orders of the court within 30 days will attract a 10 per cent interest per annum.

The court also ordered the PSC to pay Mbu his accumulated salaries, allowances and entitlement from July 2, 2016, when he was forcefully retired until May 10, 2018, when he would have retired having attained the mandatory 60 years.

In his evidence in Chief before the court, Mbu had stated that he was born May 10, 1958, and joined the police on Dec. 11, 1985, and had not reached the mandatory retirement age of 60, nor had he spent 35 years in service before he was retired in 2016.

The claimant had therefore sought, amongst other reliefs, an order of the court to invalidate his retirement which he claimed was done via a press release as he was never served statutory notice of retirement.

He also sought an order from the court directing the defendant to pay his salaries, allowances and other entitlements from July 2016 to 2018, when he would have been due for retirement.

He also sought payment of his terminal benefits, N500 million as general damages and N20 million as the cost of the suit.

However, Justice Obaseki-Osaghae declined one of the reliefs sought by Mbu for a promotion to the position of a DIG and reinstatement into the police force.

The trial judge explained that the promotion relief cannot be sustained as the claimant had reached the mandatory retirement age on May 10, 2018, when the suit was pending.