Maina seeks to join Malami’s suit against N’Assembly

A former Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Pension
Reforms, Mr. Abdulrasheed Maina, on Wednesday applied to be joined
as a party in a suit filed by the Attorney General of the
Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, to stop
the Senate from probing into his (Maina’s) controversial
reinstatement into the civil service.

Justice Binta Nyako on Wednesday adjourned the suit till March
10 to enable Maina to regularise his processes.

But the judge noted that she was adjourning for the hearing of
the substantive suit which was already “ripe for hearing”.

She said she would only hear Maina’s application if it had been
regularised before the next hearing date.

In his substantive suit, the AGF prayed the court to determine
whether the National Assembly had the right to probe issues
relating to the “employment, attendance at work, disengagement,
reinstatement and or promotion of a civil servant.”

He also asked the court to declare that “the employment,
attendance at work, disengagement, reinstatement and or promotion
of a civil servant are matters outside the exclusive and concurrent
legislative lists contained in the Constitution of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).”

He contended that “the National Assembly lacks the legislative
competence to investigate the employment, attendance at work,
disengagement, reinstatement and or promotion of a civil servant
which are matters exclusively within the purview of the Federal
Civil Service Commission under the Constitution of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).”

The AGF contended that the power of investigation vested in the
National Assembly by Section 88 (1) of the Constitution of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) was limited.

A former Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Pension
Reforms, Mr. Abdulrasheed Maina, on Wednesday applied to be joined
as a party in a suit filed by the Attorney General of the
Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, to stop
the Senate from probing into his (Maina’s) controversial
reinstatement into the civil service.

Justice Binta Nyako on Wednesday adjourned the suit till March
10 to enable Maina to regularise his processes.

But the judge noted that she was adjourning for the hearing of
the substantive suit which was already “ripe for hearing”.

She said she would only hear Maina’s application if it had been
regularised before the next hearing date.

In his substantive suit, the AGF prayed the court to determine
whether the National Assembly had the right to probe issues
relating to the “employment, attendance at work, disengagement,
reinstatement and or promotion of a civil servant.”

He also asked the court to declare that “the employment,
attendance at work, disengagement, reinstatement and or promotion
of a civil servant are matters outside the exclusive and concurrent
legislative lists contained in the Constitution of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).”

He contended that “the National Assembly lacks the legislative
competence to investigate the employment, attendance at work,
disengagement, reinstatement and or promotion of a civil servant
which are matters exclusively within the purview of the Federal
Civil Service Commission under the Constitution of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).”

The AGF contended that the power of investigation vested in the
National Assembly by Section 88 (1) of the Constitution of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) was limited.