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From Noah Ebije, Kaduna
A staff of the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Kaduna, Mr. Kayode Obisanya, has won a case of unlawful termination of his appointment by the hospital management.
Obisanya had approached the Industrial Court in 2015 when the management terminated his appointment without payment of entitlements, after deploying him from the maintenance department of the hospital to the main gate of the facility to take record of movement of vehicles.
However, without obeying the judgment of the Industrial Court, which ordered his reinstatement and full payment of his salary arrears and allowances, the hospital approached the Appeal Court in Abuja, but lost the case in favour of Obisanya.
Addressing newsmen in Kaduna over his plight, as he battles the hospital management in order to be reinstated, Obisanya said he had legally done all he could as a citizen, “but it is like the hospital has concluded that it cannot obey court order.”
However, when contacted, the Public Relations Officer of the hospital, Mr. Haruna Usman Toma said Obisanya’s case could only be handled by the Ministry of Health since similar cases are now being taken care of by the ministry.
While explaining his ordeals, Obisanya said: “I work with the Federal Neuro Psychiatric Hospital, Barnawa, Kaduna State. I was moved from the maintenance department to man the main gate of the hospital, keeping record of all the outgoing and incoming vehicles. However, my appointment was illegally terminated in 2015. For this reason, I approached the Industrial Court the same year in 2015.
“In 2021, the Industrial Court delivered judgment in my favour. After the judgment, my lawyer wrote to the hospital, furnishing them with the necessary documents, and at the same time, I went to the hospital to resume work.
“So, I met the registrar and collected the resume letter, and after filling, I dropped it, but the legal adviser, Mohammed Gombe called me back to tell me that they were not in agreement. Then I went there again to meet the acting Medical Director, Dr. Eweda. Then I went back in January 2022, I met him, he called the legal adviser, Gombe, having seen the court judgment and what is in the judgment. They said they had no money to comply with the judgment and that the only thing they can do is for me to resume work and forgo what the judgment read, which include my 2014 promotion arrears, my salaries and all other allowances. They said they can’t pay anything.
“I went to the Industrial Court for six years and I told them that they are going contrary to the judgment of the Court. Then, the legal adviser said they had the right to appeal and I said yes, they have the right to appeal if they think the Industrial Court has not done the right thing. They told me that if they go to appeal, it would take years to see another judgment, and that I will not be able to survive. And I told them, look, even the six years I spent at the Industrial Court was by the grace of God. Somebody like me waited for six years without a salary.
“But, if you decide to do anything contrary to the judgment, in your way, the same God that saw me throughout the last six years, will still see me through. Dr. Eweda was the acting Medical Director then. I asked them to put into writing all that they said. They said they can’t put it in writing. I left them. The next thing I heard was that they had gone to the Appeal Court. I said glory be to God. I furnished my lawyer with the Appeal.
“Unfortunately, each time my lawyer went to the Appeal Court in Abuja, she would not be able to find my file. After years, she was able to trace it to somewhere, but nothing was found in the file. She had to start again. I have been working on that till early this year. By June this year, the judges of the Appeal Court sat and wrote their judgment and their case was dismissed. And my lawyer briefed me again, wrote them and did the normal thing. I asked my lawyer to give me a letter of resumption, which I took to them this month of September.
“As I got to the hospital, the desk officer, having seen the letter, said he had to consult the legal team to know whether to receive the letter or not. He said it was the instruction given. They rejected the letter that it was an instruction from the above not to receive such a letter. And that the Medical Director said any letter of this nature should not be received.
“Legally I have done all I could as a Nigerian. I have exhausted everything. It is better not to die in silence because it is like the hospital has concluded that it cannot obey Court order.”
However, reacting, the Public Relations Officer, Haruna Usman Toma, said: “Regarding Mr. Kayode’s issue, we, as Psychiatric hospital, don’t have any reason not to reinstate him, but we have to get the approval from the Federal Ministry of Health because as it is now, the hospital doesn’t have Board of Directors yet. Kayode’s case is not the case here. We have up to 17 similar cases and we have settled four out of this. And the remaining ones have been transferred to the Ministry, knowing full well that these cases have been there since 2015.
“We have had three managers before the present management inherited the case. After the case had been transferred to the Ministry of Health, the legal officers in that ministry are the ones involved in this. Now, the bone of contention is whether Mr. Kayode Obisanya will be reinstated or not; that is simple. The management has no problem with him being reinstated, the only thing is that we are waiting for an order from the mother ministry, which is the Federal Ministry of Health and the legal team to give us, either to say they will appeal or have him reinstated. It is as simple as that. We are just waiting for an order because it is a legal matter.”
