Some sacked directors of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) have filed a motion at the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) in Abuja, seeking an interlocutory injunction to prevent the bank from replacing them.
The dismissed directors, who are listed as claimants in the motion filed by Isa Mohammed & Associates (El-Shuayb Law Firm), argue that their terminations were “unlawfully” executed without valid cause. They claim that their dismissals violated civil service rules.
In March, it was reported that 27 CBN employees, many of them directors, were affected by the first wave of reorganization at the institution. This included eight directors, 10 deputy directors, five assistant directors, two principal managers, and two senior managers. Recently, the CBN also relieved 17 directors appointed under the new governor, Olayemi Cardoso, while four others retired upon reaching the statutory retirement age of 60.
The bank has since advertised vacancies for these positions in national newspapers, prompting the directors to seek legal intervention. They have requested the court to issue an interlocutory injunction preventing the CBN from filling the director-level vacancies created by their dismissals, pending the resolution of their case.
The motion, filed under Order 22 Rule 1 and 2 of the National Industrial Court Civil Procedure Rules, 2027, asks the court to restrain the CBN or its agents from taking any steps to recruit replacements for the terminated directors.
The claimants argue that, according to employment law, an employer can only terminate an employee’s contract without notice or compensation in serious cases, such as fraud or other criminal activities. Since they were not accused of any such misconduct, they seek redress from the court.
“The defendants have been making efforts to fill the vacancies created by the unlawful termination of the Claimants’ appointments, without regard to the pendency of the suit filed before this Honorable Court by the claimants, hence our application to this Honorable Court,” the directors stated in their filing.
