A Federal High Court in Abuja has refused an application by the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister for Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN) seeking to stop the senate probe into the reinstatement of former chairman of the pension taskforce, Abdulrasheed Maina into the civil service.
Justice Binta Nyako on Monay ordered that notice of the court process be served on the National Assembly to appear to show cause why the ex parte application should not be granted.
The AGF’s action is challenging the decision of the Senate committees on Public Service, Internal Affairs, Anti-Corruption, Establishment and Judiciary to examine the controversial return and reinstatement of the former chairman of the Presidential Taskforce on Pension Reforms into the Civil Service.
Malami has asked the court to determine if the national assembly has the right to probe issues relating to the “employment, attendance at work, disengagement, reinstatement and or promotion of a civil servant”.
He wants the court declare that “the employment, attendance at work, disengagement, reinstatement and or promotion of a civil servant are matters outside the exclusive and concurrent legislative lists contained in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).
“That the national assembly cannot legitimately regulate the employment, attendance at work, disengagement, reinstatement and or promotion of a civil servant, which are matters exclusively within the purview of the Federal Civil Service Commission under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria1999 (as amended).
“The national assembly lacks the legislative competence to investigate the employment, attendance at work, disengagement, reinstatement and or promotion of a civil servant which are matters exclusively within the purview of the Federal Civil Service Commission under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria1999 (as amended).
The AGF argued that the power of investigation vested the national assembly by section 88 (1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) is limited and such that can only be exercised within the confines of Section 88 (2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).
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