Civil servant challenges exclusion from AGoF selection Process, drags AGF, Head of Service to court
BY ANDREW OROLUA
A civil servant, Joshua Kadmi Luka, has asked the National Industrial Court Abuja to nullify a selection committee for the post of Accountant General of the Federation, AGoF, for deliberate exclusion of his name in their selection process.
The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs Didi Esther Walson-Jack, had in her wisdom constituted the selection committee to fill the vacant post.
The claimant,Joshua Kadmi Luka fees disappointed over lack of due process and had dragged the Attorney-General of the Federation, Prince Lateef Olasunkanmi Fagbemi,SAN, and the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs Didi Esther Walson-Jack, before the National Industrial Court of Nigeria in Abuja over his exclusion from the selection process for the position of Accountant-General of the Federation.
Luka, through his counsel, Ibrahim Angulu (SAN), is challenging the legality of his disqualification, arguing that it violates the principles of fair hearing and the presumption of innocence enshrined in the 1999 Constitution.
He contends that his exclusion, based solely on allegations by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), is unconstitutional since he has not been convicted by any court of law.
The claimant in the suit marked: NICN/ABJ/35/2025 is questioning whether the Head of Service has the legal authority to bar him from the selection process without due process and whether such an action constitutes a violation of his fundamental rights.
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He is also challenging the role of the Head of Service in the appointment process, arguing that the power to select the Accountant-General rests with the Federal Civil Service Commission as stipulated by the Constitution.
In his prayers before the court, Luka seeks a declaration that the selection process is null and void, an order allowing him to participate, and a ruling that his exclusion based on unproven allegations amounts to an infringement of his rights.
No date has been fixed for hearing of the suit.
