Tunde Oyesina 
The Presiding Judge, Abuja Judicial Division of the National Industrial Court, Hon. Justice Osatohanmwen Obaseki-Osaghae, has ordered the All Progressive Congress (APC) to pay 5 of its former staff, Henry Obi, Gilbert Obi, Samuel Mamman, Joseph Akaa and Richard Igbang the sum of N350,000.00 each as outstanding salaries, and the sum of N50,000.00 (Fifty Thousand Naira) as salary in lieu of notice.
The ourt ordered the All Progressive Congress to pay Henry Obi and 4 others the sum of N3,000,000.00 (Three Million Naira) as general damages for anxiety and suffering when their salaries were stopped without a reason, and the sum of N1,500,000.00 (One Million, Five Hundred Naira) as cost of action within 30 days. The claimants, Henry Obi and 4 others, had approached the court and argued that they were all employees of the defendant, employed sometimes in 2015 and averred that they were still on the employment of the APC even when the party had stopped paying their salaries.
The claimants further averred that the said non-payment of their salaries and allowances has subjected them to a beggarly living and drastically exposed them to the most adverse economic melan choly of this season. They urged the court to grant the reliefs sought in the interest of justice. In defence, the defendant (APC), averred that for the periods the claimants were casually engaged, they were all paid their entitlement due to them up till the expiration of the tenure of the Progressiveformer National Chairman of the Defendant which came to an end in June 2018, which they were casually engaged to serve.
The lawyer stated that the entire case of Henry Obi and 4 others as presently constituted is based on a false claim, same is unmeritorious, devoid of merit and ought to be dismissed in its entirety. He further argued that the claimants were employed as casual workers and held their positions at the pleasure of the employer or at best that of master and servant, saying their employment terminated immediately after the tenure of the National Chairman expired in June 2018.
In opposition, claimants lawyer, David Okokon, submitted that the defendant did not place any document before the court to show that his clients were employed to work for the Defendant’s National Chairman. Counsel contended that his clients’ employment was never terminated; that the APC simply stopped his clients’ salaries in July 2018, without any reason whatsoever and urged the court to dismiss the APC assertion.
Delivering judgement, Justice Obaseki-Osaghae faulted the position of the All Progressive Congress for describing the claimants as casual workers and held that there is no evidence in the letter of offer that the APC appointed Henry Obi and 4 others specifically for former National Chairman, neither is there evidence that it terminated the employment of the Claimants as required by law.
