We act as solicitors to Ambassador Gordon Bristol and 37 other Ambassadors/Directors employed in the Foreign Service of Nigeria and write you on their behalf on the above-captioned matter.Your story on the said matter is fundamentally flawed and the sponsors of the mendacity have obviously chosen to use your highly esteemed online journal to pursue an agenda that clearly exceeded their traditional roles as public servants and entered the realm of impunity, executive lawlessness and personal vendetta.
We deem it appropriate to set forth the critical facts of this matter in order to assist you inform your global audience responsibly. The said facts are as follows:
About forty-five of Nigeria’s most senior and highest-experienced serving career diplomats, were recently purported to have been retired by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the basis of a circular on Tenure Policy issued on 9th January, 2014 by the Head of Service of the Federation and supported by the Federal Civil Service Commission.
These diplomats, all of whom joined the Foreign Service in 1980/1981, were promoted notionally to the post of Director (that is, without any financial benefits) with effect from 1/1/2006 and actually with effect from 1/1/2008. They comprised twenty-three officers currently serving Nigeria as Ambassadors/High Commissioners, . eight others serving as Deputy Heads of Mission or Consuls-General, and ten officers manning key Directorates, Departments and Divisions at the Ministry’s Headquarters as Under-Secretaries and Directors of Departments and Divisions.
By a Circular dated 9th January 2014, all Permanent Secretaries, the Accountant General of the Federation and Chief Executives of Federal Agencies were instructed to request all Directors who have served eight years on post pursuant to the Tenure Policy of the Federal Government and who were expected to retire from service on 31st December 2013, and are still in the service, to immediately proceed on retirement.
Acting on the authority of the said Circular/Gazette of 9th January 2014, Ambassador (Dr.) Martin Uhomoibhi, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, by a circular dated 16th January, 2014 directed our Clients to proceed on retirement on the ground that they have served eight years on post, calculating same from 1/1/2006, the notional date of their promotion to Grade Level 17, instead of the actual date which is 1st January, 2008.
Following the facts stated above, our Clients briefed us and we wrote a petition to both the Head of Civil Service of the Federation and the Minister of Foreign Affairs protesting the Permanent Secretary’ss’ directive, insisting that our Clients were not yet due for retirement. We also stated in our letter that if the Permanent Secretary did not reverse himself, we will contest the matter in Court. A copy of the said letter dated 14th January, 2014 is attached.
Rather than follow due process, Dr. Uhomoibhi, by memo titled “Letter of Recall” and dated 17th January, 2014 purported to recall all our Clients serving overseas on the ground that they have been retired with effect from 1st January 2014 by the application of the Tenure policy. Also on Friday 24th January 2014, the said Permanent Secretary deployed new officers to take over the offices of our Clients serving in the Ministry’s Headquarters on the wrong assumption that they have retired.
When it became obvious to our Clients that the Permanent Secretary, far from merely labouring under a misapprehension, was being deliberately mischievous in insisting on their retirement on baseless grounds, they instructed us to go to court to seek the protection of the court and enforce their rights in the light of the 16th December 2013 judgment of the Honourable Justice Benedict B. Kanyip of the National Industrial Court, in the Ambassador Dozie Nwanna Vs National Intelligence Agency case on the application and interpretation of the Tenure policy. In that landmark judgment, the Honorable Judge held that for purposes of computing the eight years tenure on post for a Director, only the actual date of promotion can be used and NOT the notional date. Consistent with this interpretation, it is our contention that our Clients have only served six (6) years on post, i.e. 2008 to 2013, and should therefore retire in 2015 except for those of them that would attain sixty-years of age or completed 35 years of service before then. Incidentaly the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was the Second Defendant in the Nwanna case and I was Ambassador Nwanna’s Lawyer.
As soon as the said Dr. Uhumoibi was served with the Court Summons and his realizing that the courts will not offer him any remedy in his disregard for rule of law and due process, he formed an unholy liaison with the Chairperson of the Federal Civil Service Commission and invented a new and magical reason for retiring our Clients, whereby they changed their minds and decided to re-retire our Clients on fresh ground they termed as “redundancy.” Letters dated 29th January, 2014 were then issued individually to our Clients by the Federal Civil Service Commission, purporting this time, that they have been retired on ground of redundancy.
Please note that our Clients were initially asked to retire on the ground that they have served eight years on post as directors in accordance with the Tenure Policy. Their traducers thereafter flip-flopped, embarked on a sudden policy summersault, and declared them redundant so just to retire them willy-nilly. In effect, the Directors who were said to have been retired on ground of tenure policy are also being declared redundant, all at the same time. There is no doubt whatsoever that the Commission has overstepped its bounds by this action. In effect, serving Nigerian Envoys have precipitously been declared redundant, thereby casting a pall over their credibility and effectiveness.
The Public Service Rules of the Federation have made clear and unambiguous provisions for declaring a redundancy and none of such rules apply to our Clients . Indeed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not been scrapped by Government nor is it undergoing any major administrative re-organization leading to the abolition of the offices occupied by our Clients . It is our submission that the later decision to retire our Clients on ground of redundancy is malicious, capricious, devoid of proper administrative process and is an irresponsible and odious afterthought.
Our Clients have availed themselves of existing conflict resolution mechanisms including their right to petition, so far, to no avail and have resorted to seeking redress in court, which is well within their rights in a democratic dispensation such as we have in Nigeria.
Following various petitions by parties to this dispute and to avert the imminent global embarrassment and ridicule the reckless actions of the aforementioned public officers would expose the Nation to, the President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR, in his wisdom and a commendable display of excellent leadership instructed the Honorable Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke Bello, as the chief law officer of the Federation, to review the complex legal issues involved and advice Government on the options for expedited resolution of the intra-government dispute which was already affecting productivity service-wide.
President Jonathan’s instruction to the Honorable Attorney General underscores his several directives to MDAs of government to uphold the law, including court rulings and is consistent with the Administration’s well avowed commitment to the rule of law and due process. The Chief Law officer of the Federation thereafter rightly advised Mr. President that there is a subsisting court judgment on the matter (Ambassador Dozie Nwanna v NIA & 2 Ors) which is anchored on firm legal footing and that challenging the matter in court will be an unnecessary diversion for the Administration, and the chances of success in appealing the matter was negligible.
Following the advice of the Attorney General, Mr. President ordered the agencies and functionaries of government involved to return immediately to the status quo antebellum on the matter by recalling the affected Directors to their previous positions in the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the withdrawal of the recall circular issued to the Ambassadors, Deputy Heads of Mission and Consuls-General abroad. Mr. President also directed the supervising Minister of Foreign Affairs,the Head of Service of the Federation, the Chairman of the Federal Civil Service Commission and the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to immediately implement his directives.
From the foregoing, it is quite clear that both the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Foreign Affairs were carrying out legitimate instructions of Mr. President, who appointed them, to assist him discharge the duties conferred on him by the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended). It is morally wrong and inappropriate to accuse them of collecting “hefty bribes” from poor civil servants who are fighting to protect their careers, from being whimsically, arbitrarily and prematurely terminated by highly placed acolytes of impunity and executive lawlessness. It would be more honourable for the Chairperson of the Federal Civil Service Commission and the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to resign if they are unable for whatever reasons to implement the presidential directive. Otherwise Mr. President should do the needful to preserve the integrity and image of the Public Service. Thank you and God bless Nigeria!
Yours Faithfully,
BARRISTER CHIKE. FRANCIS. MADUEKWE
CUSTODES JURIS SOLICITORS.
ABUJA.
FEBRUARY 20, 2014.
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