Obayan vs UNILORIN: Ex-Covenant University VC wins 19-year battle in Supreme Court
Obayan (now a professor) as a lecturer and Reader in the Department of
Guardian and Counselling, University of Ilorin, UNILORIN.
The apex court, in a unanimous judgment by a five-man panel, led by
Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, dismissed the appeal by the university,
its Governing Council, Tunde Balogun (listed as the registrar) and
Prof. Shuaib Oba Abdulraheem (listed as vice chancellor) for lacking
in merit.
The court upheld the argument by Prof. Obayan's lawyer, John Baiyeshea
(SAN), and accepted the March 10, 2005 judgment given in her favour by
the Court of Appeal and ordered that she be restored to her office and
paid salaries, allowances and other entitlements from September 1999
(when she was sacked) to date.
Prof. Obayan, Vice Chancellor of the Landmark University and ex-Vice
Chancellor of Covenant University, was employed as a lecturer in 1986
in the Department of Guardian and counselling of the University of
Ilorin.
She applied in 1997 for sabbatical leave, which was approved by the
institution's Appointment and Promotion Committee. She then proceeded
to the School of Psychology and Counselling, Rose Hampton Institute,
London for further studies.
She later got her employer's permission for another one year's leave
of absence, The Nation reports.
At the expiration of the one year's leave of absence, she again
applied for four-month extension of her leave, which the institution
claimed to have rejected via a letter dated March 25, 1999, which she
denied receiving.
On her resumption on September 1, 1999, the institution wrote her a
letter dated September 22, 1999 informing her that she had voluntarily
terminated her appointment with University of Ilorin "for failing to
report for work after the expiration of the additional one-year leave
of absence," a decision she challenged at the Federal High Court,
Ilorin.
The Federal High Court, in its judgment, dismissed her case, following
which she appealed to the Court of Appeal, which, in a judgment on
March 10, 2005, reversed the decision of the High Court and voided her
sack, a decision the university, its Governing Council, Balogun and
Abdulraheem appealed to the Supreme Court.
Ruling, the Supreme Court, upheld the judgment of the Court of Appeal,
particularly its finding that the University of Ilorin failed to prove
that it delivered to her its letter dated March 25, 1999, refusing her
request for four month's extension of her leave of absence.
The lead judgment written by Justice Kumai Bayang Akaahs noted that
the kernel of the appeal was substantially "the receipt or non-receipt
of a letter said to have been written on 25/3/99 by the appellants and
mailed to the respondent in her overseas address, which the respondent
denied receiving".
The court faulted the manner her employment was terminated and held
that the respondent was denied fair hearing by the appellants in their
decision to terminate her employment.
Justice Akaahs said, in the lead judgment: "I find that this appeal is
totally devoid of any merits and it is accordingly dismissed.
"I further affirm the judgment of the lower court delivered on 10
March 10, 2005, which ordered the respondents (now appellants) to
reinstate and restore the plaintiff to her post as a lecturer and
Reader in the Department of Guardian and Counselling of the university
and to restore to her all rights, entitlements and other perquisites
of that office and to pay her salaries, allowances and other
entitlements from September 1999 to date.
"For the avoidance of doubt, the plaintiff is still in the service of
the University of Ilorin. I assess the cost of this needless and
vexatious litigation forced on the respondent at N500,000 in favour of
the respondent and against the appellants."
Other members of the panel – Justices Ariwoola, Amina Augie, Paul
Galinje and Sidi Bage – agreed with the lead judgment.
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