Residents oppose Kano governor for appointing retired civil servant as head of service

Concerned Kano residents have faulted the action of the state government on the appointment of a retired permanent secretary Abdullahi Musa as the new Head of Service.

Similarly, the residents criticized the alleged reinstatement of another three senior public servants Umar Muhammad Halo, Aminu Shuaibu Rabo, and Ada’u Lawan, who had left the service, back as permanent secretaries.

In a petition notice by Prime Alliance Law Firm, the attorney to the complainants, a copy made available to The Guardian, the concerned residents insisted the reinstatement of the HoS and the three others is a violation of a standing judgment of the court.

According to the petitioners, the decision of the state government to return the four retired civil servants to service after attaining the peak of their career is an “aberration of civil service rules and pension laws and utmost public interest”.

The petition addressed to Governor Abba Kabiru Yusuf reminded that an existing judgment of the National Industrial Court in Kano, through a consent judgment delivered on 13th December 2022, has restrained the returnees to public service.

“It is a gravest concern and deepest disappointment and unequivocal rejection of the abuse of all ethical norms the recent government decision to reinstate certain retired permanent secretaries back to the state civil service.

“It is incomprehensible that some of these Permanent secretaries have standing and subsisting judgments of the National Industrial Court sitting in Kano, filed by them and duly decided vide a consent judgment. The implication of the clear pronoucment of the Court in adopting the terms agreed by parties then, among other reliefs, barred them forever from civil service.

“It is however worries our clients that in the standing of a judgment of a court of a competent jurisdiction, moves are made to return them to active service. We believe that of this process is not immediately rescinded, it unequivocally leads to promoting impropriety, violation of the clear terms of judgment and illegality which are alien to the state civil service.”

The complainants believed reinstatement of permanent secretaries who have started enjoying their retirement benefits contradict the principles of justice and fairness, breach of rule of law and civil service and pension system.

They urged Governor Yusuf to as a matter of urgency reverse the decision to save his administration and Kano state of impunity in the name of political patronage.