Date: 2018-05-03

The judicial arm of the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) Students' Union Government (SUG) has nullified the 30-day suspension slammed on the Welfare Secretary, Ibrahim Asukuti, by the parliament for alleged embezzlement and dereliction of duty.

A copy of the judgment obtained by CAMPUSLIFE revealed that the judgment was based on majority opinions. There were two dissenting views, but the majority opinions outweighed the opinions of the dissenting judges, prompting the Chief Justice of the SUG court, Hibatullahi Kanzullahi, to deliver the judgment.

The union court declared Ibrahim's suspension by the parliament as "illegal, ultra vires, unconstitutional and contrary to the doctrine of separation of powers", saying the parliament wrongly assumed jurisdiction in the case.

The court held that all withheld allowances due to the embattled Welfare Secretary during the period of his suspension be paid with immediate effect.

The court, however, did not grant other prayers of the claimant, urging the parliament to pay damages of N3 million for an alleged defamation of character and for infringing on his rights to fair hearing.

Welcoming the judgment, counsel to the claimant, Miss Hanifat Olanrewaju, hailed the judges for "standing for the truth", thanking members of her team for pursuing the case to "a logical conclusion".

She said: "I want to express my joy and happiness and appreciate God for the victory in the case of Asukuti Ibrahim V. Parliament & Anor. I will like to use this medium to congratulate my client for the victory and also appreciate my co-counsel for the hard work and cooperation throughout the proceeding. Finally, I want to appreciate the court for upholding the words of the law as contained in the constitution by preventing any form of abuse of power."

Counsel to the first defendant (parliament), Olasupo Morakinyo, accepted the court ruling, but maintained that the judgment was based on the procedure, as against the allegation leveled against the claimant.

He said: "The judgment of the court is final, even if it is not completely favourably to the parties. Well, I must say that the judgment is in two folds: the court held in clear terms that the claimant's suspension was illegal because of the procedure, and not that, he is not guilty as charged. And the defendant also failed woefully in law to establish a case of defamation against my client.

"We take the favourable parts of the judgment as sound and humbly disagreed with the unfavourable parts. We believe the unfavourable part is an erroneous decision and we shall advise our client accordingly."

Counsel to the second defendant, Jimoh Omotayo, declined making any official comment until he was done studying the full judgment.

It would be recalled that the Welfare Secretary was suspended for 30-working days by the parliament two months ago after raising allegation of embezzlement against him.