Chat212 - Mail Summary...
- Four of the applicants have instituted a class action suit against the FG as a result of Immigration tragedy last Saturday.
- They are seeking an order declaring the exercise illegal and compelling the FG to pay N528, 271, 650,000 to all the applicants who participated in the test nationwide.
- The Applicant was denied their fundamental rights to life, right to protection from inhuman and degrading treatment..
Chat212 - Mail News... Report
The last has not been heard of last Saturday’s recruitment exercise into the Nigerian Immigration Service, as four of the applicants have instituted a class action suit against the Federal Government before a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja.
They are seeking an order declaring the exercise illegal and compelling the Federal Government to pay N528, 271, 650,000 to all the applicants who participated in the test nationwide.
The aggrieved applicants are Charles Ugwuonye, Friday Danlami, Chinedu Onwuka and Samson Ojo.
Specifically, the applicants are seeking the court order to refund to each applicant that applied for the job the N1,000 collected from them and another N1m to each applicant who are still alive while N50m damages is awarded in favour of each of the families of those who died during the exercise.
The plaintiffs brought the application under Sections 33, 34 and 44 of the 1999 Constitution (amended) and the equivalent articles of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Right Act.
Joined as respondents in the suit are the Interior Minister, the Ministry of Interior, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, the Nigerian Immigration Service and its Comptroller-General, David Parradang.
In their application, the plaintiffs are asking the court to declare the recruitment illegal and restrain the NIS from spending the money realised from the exercise.
They want the court to declare that the conduct or the execution of the recruitment as illegal, unwarranted and in violation of the applicants’ fundamental rights to life, right to protection from inhuman and degrading treatment, right to dignity of the human person, right against discrimination on the basis of the circumstances of birth and right against unlawful taking of the property of a person; under Sections 33, 34, 42 and 44 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, (as amended), and the equivalent Articles of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights Act.
The applicants also prayed for an order declaring that the respondents, particularly the Minister of Interior and the NIS Comptroller-General owed them the duty of honesty and candor regarding the true purpose and intention behind the recruitment.
Furthermore, the court was asked to declare that the respondents, particularly the Minister of Interior and the Comptroller-General had a duty to superintend the exercise in a safe and healthy manner with due consideration to lives and well-being of those who applied for or participated in the recruitment.
The applicants want an order declaring that the NIS 2014 recruitment exercise was carried out in a manner that was motivated by greed and corrupt intentions and without any realistic plan to offer the applicants employment.
Also, they are seeking a declaration that the respondents do not have the power to appropriate any funds raised by them from the exercise, even if not otherwise illegal, but must remit such funds to the Federation Account.
The applicants want the court to grant an order of interim injunction restraining the respondents from spending any of the funds raised from the recruitment exercise and an order of perpetual injunction restraining the respondents from spending any of the funds raised from the recruitment exercise.
