The National Industrial Court has adjourned a suit filed by Dr. Gregory Obayomi against the National Mathematical Centre.
Obayomi is a suspended staff of the center and the case was adjourned till May 31st.
At the last sitting on March 31, the suit before Justice Olufunke Anuwe was adjourned until May 5, though the court did not sit on the stated date.
Therefore, May 31 was fixed by the court for the hearing of pending applications.
Obayomi, the claimant, dragged the NMC, Governing Council, the Director/Chief Executive, and the acting Registrar of the Centre as defendants to court.
He instituted the suit in June 2022 over suspected discontent with the process embraced by the defendants in the appointment process of a new Registrar for the Centre.
Obayomi termed the defendant’s handling of the 2022 Registrar’s appointment process as an “unjust, non-transparent, and biased disposition”.
The management of the NMC nevertheless, suspended the claimant and stopped his salary in Aug. 2022.
According to the defendants, the claimant was suspended for failing to use an internal dispute mechanism as stipulated by the center’s terms and conditions.
On July 14, 2022, the court directed all parties in the suit in its ruling to maintain the status quo, pending the determination of the Motion on Notice.
In another ruling on Dec.13,2022, the court also ordered that the claimant be restored to his duty post from the alleged suspension from duty.
In the ruling Anuwe said “in the circumstances of the suspension of the claimant from duty, l find good reason in this application to set aside the said suspension of the claimant which was done while the suit and Motion on Notice were pending. I so order.
” Consequently, pending the determination of this suit, the defendants are restrained from instituting any disciplinary proceedings against the claimant or tempering with the claimant’s appointment, emoluments, or promotion”, the court ruled.
The defendants’ failure to comply with the orders of the court saw the claimant file proceedings for Committal to Prison against the defendants.
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The defendants, on the other hand, filed counter processes to the Committal to Prison proceedings.
May 31, was consequently fixed by the court for hearing of the Committal to prison proceedings as well as other pending applications.
