Sixty-two former employees of the Central Bank of Nigeria have asked the National Industrial Court of Nigeria sitting in Abuja to dismiss an application by the apex bank seeking to change the procedure of their suit challenging the termination of their appointments.
The ex-workers, who were disengaged between February and May 2024, opposed a motion filed by the CBN requesting the court to convert their originating summons to a writ of summons, a move they described as premature and legally untenable.
The application, argued by the CBN’s counsel, Mr Wilson Inam, SAN, urged Justice Osatohanmwen Obaseki-Osaghae to order a procedural conversion on the grounds that the case raised substantial disputes of fact requiring oral evidence for proper determination.
Inam told the court that the motion, dated November 26, was filed and served on the same day, insisting that the failure of the claimants to file a counter-affidavit meant the facts deposed to by the bank were deemed admitted.
“These are facts in which judgment cannot be given to the claimants without oral evidence,” he argued.
However, counsel to the disengaged staff, Mr Ola Olanipekun, SAN, urged the court to dismiss the application, stressing that although no counter-affidavit was filed, the claimants were entitled to oppose the motion on points of law.
Citing Order 17, Rule 12 of the National Industrial Court Rules, Olanipekun argued that the CBN’s application was incompetent because the bank had not filed a counter-affidavit to the originating summons.
“My learned brother has not filed a counter-affidavit to our process served on them. We also have a right to file a further and better affidavit before my lord can look at this issue holistically,” he said.
He maintained that where a respondent fails to file a counter-affidavit, the applicant is entitled to address the court purely on legal grounds, adding that only the pleadings of the claimants were properly before the court.
According to him, pleadings must be completed before the court could consider any application to convert an originating summons to a writ of summons.
Olanipekun relied on judicial authorities, including Famfa Oil vs. AGF (2003) and National Bank of Nigeria vs. Alakija (1978), to support his submission.
When the court asked whether it could rely on the proposed counter-affidavit attached to the CBN’s application, Olanipekun argued that a proposed process had no legal standing.
“A proposed process is not a process before the court because a party can change his mind,” he said, adding that even a filed counter-affidavit would not complete pleadings, as the claimants were still entitled to file further affidavits.
After hearing arguments from both sides, Justice Obaseki-Osaghae adjourned the matter till February 10, 2026, for ruling on the application.
The 62 former staff members have instituted separate suits against the CBN as the sole defendant. In one of the suits marked NICN/ABJ/26x/2024 and filed in August 2024, they are asking the court to nullify their termination letters.
They are also seeking declarations that a letter titled “Re-ORGANISATION”, dated May 23, 2024, and effective from May 24, 2024, violated the provisions of the CBN Act 2007 as well as the bank’s internal human resource policies.
The claimants are further praying the court to order their reinstatement and the payment of outstanding salaries, allowances and other entitlements.
The court had earlier fined the CBN an aggregate sum of N620,000 for stalling proceedings in the case, a penalty both parties confirmed had been paid.
The former employees insist that their disengagement was unlawful, alleging that mandatory procedures outlined in the CBN Act were not followed before their appointments were terminated.
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