Appeal court reinstates DG, NIA, Mohammed Dauda

The Court of Appeal, Abuja division, has reinstated the former Director General DG, National Intelligence Agency (NIA) Mohammed Dauda.

Justice Peter Ige, in his judgment, explained that the evidence leading to the dismissal of Dauda was frivolous and lacked merit, saying that all the contentious issues against NIA are in favour of Dauda who is a respondent in the suit.

He ordered that his salaries and entitlements since the day of dismissal from office be paid and ordered that the sum of N1 million be paid to him as damages.

According to Justice Ige, “Dauda should be allowed to retire in service in accordance with the stipulated laws. There is no evidence before the court that shows that the respondent has constituted any risk or breached any law.”

Justice Ige, therefore, dismissed the case for lacking in merit and the Industrial Court judgment is hereby affirmed.

Dauda had acted as the head of the security agency from November 2017 to January 2018, when he was replaced by an aide to President Muhammadu Buhari, spending just a few months on the job before his removal.

Dissatisfied by his unjust removal, Dauda challenged his removal in court, saying that his dismissal from service did not follow due process and was wrongful.

He argued that in contravention of the law, no Special Management Staff of the Disciplinary Committee (SMSDC) was set up to investigate the charges against him and was not given a fair hearing afterwards.

In an earlier judgement delivered by Justice Olufunke Anuwe, the court ordered the reinstatement of Dauda as the head of the National Intelligence Agency and payment of salaries and entitlements from March 2018 till date after it found that his dismissal fell short of the NIA Act.

In the judgment, it was held that, under the agency’s rule, the appropriate committee to investigate disciplinary cases against management staff is the management staff disciplinary committee, “not the special management staff disciplinary committee.”