The National Industrial Court has ordered the Police Service Commission (PSC) to pay AIG Joseph Mbu (rtd) the sum of N40 million as general damages.

The payment as ordered by Justice Osatohanmwen Obaseki-Osaghae on Monday, July 3, was for the unlawful retirement of Mbu before he attained the mandatory age of 60 years.

Justice Obaseki-Osaghae said: ”I hold that the claimant’s premature retirement through a press release on July 2, 2016, is unlawful, unconstitutional, null and void, and of no effect.”

The judge also set aside the purported retirement and declared that the claimant remained an officer of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), until he attained the mandatory retirement age of 60 on May 10, 2018.

Justice Obaseki-Osaghae ordered the defendant to pay Mbu his salaries, allowances, and entitlement from July 2, 2016, when he was retired until May 10, 2018, when he ought to have retired having attained 60 years.

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The judge ordered that the sum of N750,000 be paid to the claimant as cost of the suit, stating that failure of the defendant to comply with the orders of the court within 30 days will attract a 10 per cent interest per annum.

She, however, declined the relief of promotion to the position of a DIG and reinstatement sought by the claimant.

This, Justice Obaseki-Osaghae explained cannot be sustained as the claimant had reached the mandatory retirement age on May 10, 2018, when the suit was pending.

From facts, the claimant, Mbu instituted the suit against the commission over his alleged compulsory retirement on July 2, 2016, when he was the commandant of the Police Staff College.

In his statement of facts, he stated that he was born May 10, 1958, and joined the police on December 11, 1985, and had not reached the mandatory retirement age of 60, nor had he spent 35 years in service before he was retired in 2016.

The claimant had therefore sought, amongst other reliefs, an order of the court to invalidate his retirement, which he claimed was done via a press release as he was never served statutory notice of retirement.

He also sought for an order of the court directing the defendant to pay his salaries, allowances and other entitlements from July 2016 to 2018, when he would have been due for retirement.

He also sought for payment of his terminal benefits, N500 million as general damages and N20 million as cost of the suit.

The Star