An Appeal Court sitting in Ilorin, Kwara state capital has ordered Governor AbdulRaman Abdulrazaq to pay N17 million salary arrears to sacked Provost of the state College of Education, Ilorin Prof AbdulRaheem Yusuf.
The court also described the removal of Prof Yusuf sometimes in 2018 as illegal, null and void.
Abdulrazaq and four others had appealed against the judgment of an Industrial Court that ordered for the reinstatement of Prof Yusuf as the provost as well as the payment of N17 million salary arrears to him.
Lead counsel to the respondent (Prof Yusuf) Lanre Yahaya had prayed the court to grant his client both principal and alternative reliefs.
In a unanimous judgment delivered by Justice Bitrus Sanga, the court though affirmed the judgment of the Industrial Court but declined to reinstate the respondent as the provost of the college, stating that his tenure expires May this year.
The court also awarded a cost of N200,000 against the state Government.
Reacting to the judgment, one of Prof Yusuf counsels, Ibn Mahmud Aruna hailed the judgment.
Mallam Aruna added that “what this appeal has taught us is that we must learn to do things by law by following due process. An employer of labour should not abuse the fundamental rights of his or her employees as it had occurred in this case.”