A former staff of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Mr Kunle Rotimi, has petitioned the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), accusing the NUC of flouting a subsisting court judgment delivered in his favour.

Rotimi, in the petition addressed to UNESCO’s Country Director in Abuja and copied to the Minister, alleged that the commission has “disrespected the rule of law” by refusing to comply with a final judgment delivered on June 28, 2024—15 months after the decision was entered.

According to him, the case dates to 1996 when some NUC officials allegedly demanded a bribe to facilitate his participation in an approved master’s degree programme.

His refusal, he claimed, led to his “unlawful dismissal” from the commission. Rotimi explained that after 28 years of litigation, he eventually secured judgment in his favour.

However, the NUC has allegedly ignored the ruling, prompting him to initiate criminal contempt and committal proceedings against the Executive Secretary of NUC, Prof Abdullahi Ribadu, and four other principal officers of the Commission.

He expressed disappointment that the Federal Ministry of Education, which supervises the NUC, has yet to invoke the relevant provisions of the Public Service Rules against the officials, despite their being named in the contempt proceedings.

“The NUC management is hell-bent and unwilling to obey the court judgment. It will be in the interest of justice if the Minister of Education could exercise the necessary statutory obligations,” Rotimi stated. The Education Ministry and the NUC were yet to officially react to the petition as of press time.