The National Industrial Court sitting in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State has stopped the Rivers State Government from evicting permanent secretaries, allegedly sacked illegally by the government.
The court took the decision following an undertaking it extracted from the lawyer to the state government, Frank Onyiri, that he would advise his clients not to tamper with issues raised in the suit filed by the permanent secretaries pending the determination of the case.
Eight Permanent secretaries in Rivers dragged the state government to the Court, protesting their compulsory retirement from the state civil service.
Onyiri appealed to the court to give him time to file a preliminary objection to the suit.
However, the court presided over by Justice James Agbadu-Fishim said there was nothing wrong in the claimants coming together in a single suit to advance their interests.
Speaking with DAILY POST, the counsel to the claimants, Tuduru Ede said the implication of the order was that the Permanent Secretaries were still Civil Servants of the Rivers state government.
“As far as we are concerned we are still in service. We have not been retired. And as far as we are concerned, until the matter is determined, the situation remains the same,” Ede said.
The Permanent secretaries that went to court are Sam Woka, Kadilo Brown, Augustine Orlu-Orlu, Muka Nwikosi, Minabelema Michael-West, Ngozi Abu, Kingsley Hart and Mrs Justina Jumbo.
The Attorney-General of Rivers state, the state Head of Service, the Rivers State Civil Service Commission, and the Accountant General, were also joined in the suit.
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