The Court of Appeal has affirmed a judgment ordering Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, to pay over ₦2.5 billion to 110 staff members whose appointments were unlawfully terminated in 1996.
In two unanimous judgments delivered on Friday, a three-man panel of the appellate court upheld the November 30, 2015 decision of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN), which nullified the disengagement of the affected workers and ordered the payment of their accumulated salaries and other entitlements.
The panel, led by Justice Okon Abang, also directed the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to immediately release the judgment sum to the disengaged staff, warning that failure to comply would attract disciplinary action against the apex bank’s principal officers.
Justice Abang dismissed an appeal filed by ABU, the Federal Ministry of Education, and the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), describing the challenge to the NICN judgment as an afterthought.
“Having resolved the three issues formulated by the appellants against them, this appeal is devoid of merit. It is accordingly dismissed,” Justice Abang ruled, awarding ₦5 million costs against the appellants in favour of the affected staff.
In a separate but related judgment, the Court of Appeal also dismissed an appeal by the CBN against a garnishee order absolute issued by the NICN on January 27, 2022, which directed the bank to pay the judgment debt from ABU’s funds in its custody.
Justice Abang strongly criticised the conduct of the apex bank, faulting its refusal to release the funds despite the subsisting judgment.
“The CBN ought to have released that money to the judgment creditors when the judgment was not set aside or stayed. Why is CBN holding the brief for the judgment debtors?” the court queried.
Describing the bank’s actions as “reckless and condemnable to the extreme,” Justice Abang said the appeal filed by the CBN was unnecessary, oppressive, and an abuse of process.
“It is not the duty of the garnishee to play the role of an advocate for the judgment debtors by shielding them from the effect of the judgment,” he added.
The court further criticised the conduct of CBN’s counsel, Senator Ita Enang, stating that he ought to have advised the bank against pursuing what the court described as a futile appeal.
“Since 2018 when the order nisi was made, the CBN has held on to the money and has been trading with it at the expense of the judgment creditors. This is man’s inhumanity to man,” Justice Abang held.
Relying on the Supreme Court’s decision in CBN v. Interstella Communications Limited, the Court of Appeal ruled that the consent of the Attorney General of the Federation was not required before commencing garnishee proceedings, particularly as the AGF was a party to the substantive suit.
The appeal was accordingly dismissed, with the court ordering the CBN to release the judgment sum without delay and awarding an additional ₦5 million cost against the apex bank in favour of the disengaged staff.
Other members of the panel, Justices Adebukola Banjoko and Eberechi Wike, concurred with the lead judgments.
Chronicles Reporters notes that the ruling brings an end to nearly three decades of legal struggle by the affected ABU staff, reaffirming judicial intolerance for prolonged disobedience of court judgments and institutional resistance to lawful enforcement.