171 former Councillors drag Yobe govt to industrial court over unpaid entitlement

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No fewer than 171 former Councilors who served between 2013 and 2015 in Yobe State have dragged the government before the National Industrial Court sitting in Bauchi demanding the settlement of their outstanding entitlement.

The National Industrial Court has therefore summoned all of the 171 former Councilors to appear before it in order to prove their cause.

The former Councilors are demanding that the Yobe State Government should pay them their entitlements as contained in all relevant laws of service.

Our Correspondent who was at the Court on Monday when the matter came up spoke with the leader of the former Councilors, Hon Ali Gaje Gashua who said that all 171 of them served diligently throughout their tenure without any fault.

He, however, lamented that the state government has refused to pay them what legitimately belongs to them since they completed their tenure saying that the amount accruable to each of them ranges from N2m to N4m depending on the office held by the individual.

Ali Gaje said that it then became expedient for them to come to the Court as a last resort considering the fact that many other political office holders in the state were promptly settled while they were exempted.

He, therefore, on behalf of others pleaded with the Court to intervene in their case and compel the Yobe state government to pay them all their entitlements.

Ali Gaje also lamented that a letter of withdrawal from the case was purportedly written by some faceless people in order to thwart their efforts saying all of them are committed to the matter and will see it to the end.

Also, Alhaji Zubair Kansila Bursali who spoke with Journalists said that they are appealing to the state government to have mercy and pay them their entitlement to enable them to have a means of taking care of their families considering that it is what they served.

Another former Councilor, Garba Sarki Potiskum said that as a person living with a disability, he has never stopped struggling to seek justice to claim what rightly belongs to them assuring that they will pursue the case to a logical conclusion.

He expressed satisfaction with the way the case is going on saying that there is hope at the end of the matter by ordering the Yobe state government to pay them their entitlements.

Having listened to the complaint, the presiding Judge, Mustapha Tijjani ordered that all of the plaintiffs must appear before the Court so that the Court will take judicial notice of them and hear from them before giving judgment.

At the end of exchange of arguments between the two legal representations, Ahmed Igoche for the plaintiffs and Don Aguse for the Yobe state government which is the defendant, Judge, Mustapha Tijjani ordered that all the 171 Councilors should appear before the Court on 24th November 2022 to give witness before the court will deliver its judgment.

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