Members of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC board, have asked the National Industrial Court sitting in Abuja, to declare that President Muhammadu Buhari has no powers to sack them as their appointments are governed by statutes and for a fixed period, as same period has not expired.
It will be recalled that there were recent circulars from the office of Secretary to the Government of the Federation, dated July 16, 2015, Ref. No. SGF.19/S.81/XIX/964 and July 23, 2015, Ref. No. SGF.55/S.2 that all boards stand dissolved. The Sen Bassey Ewa-Henshaw led board, through their counsel, Mr Ebun-Olu Adegborowa, is contending that the circular were wrongly applied to NDDC.
Defendants in the suit are the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Senate and House of Representatives. Their counsel pointed out that by virtue of section 6 (6) of the 1999 Constitution as amended, once parties have submitted their dispute before a competent court, none of them is allowed to resort to self-help or to take any step that may jeopardize the due hearing of the matter on its merit.