A victimized staff of the ECOWAS Court of Justice, Temitope Obasaju Stephen, Executive Assistant to the Nigerian Judge has call on the Nigeria Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami SAN to intervene in saving his job for him as the leadership of the court under Justice Amoako Anshante is head bent to push him out of the service without due process which is against every known international protocols.
According to him, the situations has got out of hands, hence he is left with no other options than to call on appropriate authority with the region especially his own country to intervene in the impunity been perpetuated at the court without recourse to adhering to the rules and regulations.
According to him, It all started in July 2019 according to the account of the Executive Assistant when, He was unlawfully terminated without due process for refusing to be compromised by the Nigerian Judge, the President of the ECOWAS Court claimed then that he was forced to sign the dismissal letter by his colleague the Nigerian Judge without going through due process as they are now reenacting.
It was through the intervention of the Nigerian authority and the ECOWAS Council of Ministers, the EA was reinstated and redeployed to another department with a caveat that he remains the bona-fide EA to the Nigerian Judge who was then forbidden to hire another EA as punishment for breaking the rules and procedure of ECOWAS.
Since resumption back in January 2020, the Nigerian EA was subjected through various kangaroo disciplinary procedures for flimsy reasons by the cabal of the Court who felt uneasy by his continuous presence in the court but he survived all.
For desperate want of power to remain in office, the Nigerian judge and Ghanian President of the Court went into alliance for his 2nd term in office ; even though it was suppose to be the turn of Cape Verde judge then , in exchange for a P4 Research Position to act as EA to Nigerian Judge in 2020 with a stage managed charade interview which brought in the lady p4 Research officer seconded to serve as Nigerian Judge EA since she has been penalized from having another EA except Temitope Stephen who is now been victmized.
The same EA was accused of exposing their unpopular decision to relocate to Gudu and how they were circumventing bidding procedures of ECOWAS for the renovation contract of the office located in a very security volatile and dangerous area.
The building which is also described as unfit for habitation was also recently requested to be subjected to integrity test having had the walls broken and elevator installed without due process.
A recent interview took place for P5 Research Position in which the President now colluded with his cabal to install his own Ghanian EA as Research principal officer despite not been grounded in that area.
It was recently discovered that the President of the Court EA was moved from 5th position out of 12 candidates and his mark altered to 89% to perfect the game plan of imposing him as Principal Research officer as revealed by one Mohammed in Ghana online news publication.
When the President discover that the Nigerian EA petitioned on his conflict of interest in appointing his own EA contrary to ECOWAS Staff Regulations, their cabal now devised an opportunity of the extension of tenure to get rid of the Nigerian EA.
The thirst for vendetta by the Court cabal necessitated the change in the Memo of 18th August 2022 confirming the Nigerian EA Temitope Stephen as part of the people included in the extension of tenure.
However by an after thought , The President of ECOWAS Court of Justice reprobated and change the decision of the council by another memo of 21st September 2022 to authorize the Nigerian Judge to change the bona-fide EA Temitope Stephen on the argument that they are starting a new tenure, which is not the case as no Judge is entitled to reappointment under ECOWAS regulations, their tenure is four years absolute.
Legally speaking, the 3 judges picked for extension of tenure are not part of this tenure as they are standing in for the 3 junta ruled countries until the nominated judges can come for their seats. Again the 3 of them colluded again to seize power through majority voting from the bona-fide tenure owners- the Judges from Sierra Leone and Cape Verde in other to protect their personal interests and that of their cabal members, hence the reappointment of the President of ECOWAS Court for a third term.
The question remains that if it is a new tenure, then the judges ought to go for a selection process before the ECOWAS Judicial council which they don’t qualify for.
To use the grace and privilege of extension of office to remove someone you don’t like from office and violating the EA human rights is not only ridiculous but fall short of moral standards expected from a judge.
The EA insist that the President of the ECOWAS Court should give him the mandatory one month notice pursuant to the relevant articles of the staff regulations but, the President who seems to be above the law has refused to comply till date.
The EA wonders why it is so difficult to issue a notice of end of contract stating the reason with adequate notice?
What a shame that judges who should protect human rights of community citizens of ECOWAS are the one now violating the rights of her employees.
Why is the ECOWAS Commission President and the members state mute on this case, are they complicit or part of the cabal that has personal interest and benefiting from the back door contracts award on the Gudu office with inflated contract sum figures and employment in the ECOWAS Court been shared amongst themselves and their loyalist.
“We dare the president of ECOWAS Court of Justice to rise up to the challenge to issue end of Contract notice/ letter stating reasons as specified in the Staff Regulation if he is confident that he is not doing anything illegal ” .
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