Non-service of court processes on Monday stalled the hearing of the alleged contempt suit against the Minister of Finance, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, and others before the National Industrial Court sitting in Abuja.
When the matter was called on Monday, the presiding judge, Justice Osatohanmwen Obaseki-Osaghae, told counsel to the applicants, Martin Agba, that a copy of the motion dated January 18, 2022, which he claimed to have been filed on January 26, was not in the file of the court.
Counsel to the 1st defendant, Chigozie Iwuoha, and that of the 3rd defendant, Paul Omata, also told the court that they were yet to be served with the application.
In a motion on notice marked: NICN/ABJ/145/2021, Dr Christopher Sakpa, Dr Momoh Mcsionel, Dr Ahmed Rabiu and Dr Darlington Akukwu who filed the suit for themselves and on behalf of the affected members of the Association of Specialist Medical Doctors in Academics (ASMEDA) joined the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC), the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Finance as first to third defendants respectively.
They had prayed the court for a committal proceeding against the principal officers of the defendants, for allegedly disregarding an order of the court made on July 23, 2021, while ruling in an ex-parte motion moved by their counsel.
The court, in the ruling, ordered the defendants to pay the doctors based on the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS) and the Associated Allowances.
The salary was approved by the Federal Government on September 29, 2009, which was the status quo, pending the determination of the suit.
But the claimants averred in the motion that from August 2021 till date, the defendants are yet to fully comply with the said order.
Agba informed the court that he had a motion on notice for committal proceedings against the principal officers of the defendants for contempt of court, adding that he was ready to move the motion as all the defendants have been served.
But counsel to 1st defendant, Iwuoha, said he had not seen the motion that he was hearing about the motion for the first time, adding that he was in court with the intention to move his motion filed on November 19, 2021, seeking leave of the court to amend their processes, following the claimants’ counter, further and better affidavits served on them which raised new issues.
Justice Obaseki-Osaghae then asked if they had complied with the ex-parte order of the court made on July 23, 2021.
Iwuoha replied that his client complied with the order based on the letter dated August 13, 2021, from the AGF to the Minister of Labour on a stay of action on the earlier letter which gave them the go-ahead to reduce the salary of the doctors already re-enrolled.
But Agba, who insisted that the defendants had not complied with the court order, said besides, they were yet to respond to the motion on notice for committal proceeding after being served.
The judge, who went through the court file, said there was no copy of the motion also before the court.
“If you filed it on January 26, the rules are there. If you filed a process on Friday and you want them (defendants) to be committed on Monday? Don’t you want them to respond?” she asked.
Agba explained that based on what the court bailiff told him after the payment of the fees, the defendants had been served and that their application was simple and clear that the defendants had flouted the court order.
The judge, who told the lawyer that there was the procedure for effecting service of such application on the defendants, said it has to be personal, that an institution cannot be served.
Counsel to the Minister of Finance (3rd defendant), Omata, however, told the court that he had a preliminary objection, asking the court to strike out the suit on the ground that the claimants did not have a cause of action to institute the case.
Agba said the claimants decided not to oppose the application because it was filed out of time based on the rules of the court.
The judge told Omata that his preliminary objection too would not be taken but would be pending until the next adjourned date.
The judge, who held that the application filed by the claimants for committal proceedings against the defendants were not before the court, adjourned the matter till March 9, 2022.
