Kogi Deputy Governor: Impeached Achuba Sues Bello
Simon Achuba, who was recently impeached as deputy governor of Kogi state, has sued Governor Yahaya Bello, Naijaparry reports.
Achuba filed the suit marked: NICN/ABJ/244/2019 before the National Industrial Court in Abuja, declaring among others, that he is “entitled to all the rights and privileges of the Office of the Deputy Governor of Kogi State of Nigeria including the prompt payment of all his travel allowances, monthly impress, security votes and statutory allocations.”
He accused Bello of unlawfully withholding his salary and his other entitlements, which are all captured in the 2019 budget already passed by the state’s House of Assembly.
Achuba, whose lawyer is Femi Falana (SAN), stated that his decision to resort to court action was informed by the defendants’ refusal to pay him despite repeated demands by his lawyer.
In his statement of claim, Achuba stated that his “security vote in the sum of N10million per-month has remained unpaid since April 2018 to August 2019 amounting to the total sum of N180m.”
He added that the monthly impress to his office in the sum of N18,224, 000 was last paid to the claimant in March 2018, now amounting to N328,032.000.00 as monthly impress due to the Claimant for the months of April 2018 August 2019.
Achuba is praying the court to order the defendants to pay him N911,572,758.00 being his travel allowances, monthly impress, security votes, and other statutory allocations due to his office as the Deputy Governor of Kogi State.
He is also seeking an order directing the defendants to pay to him his monthly salary, travel allowances, monthly impress, security votes and statutory allocations due to him from August 2mg until the end of his tenure of office on the 27th of January 2020.
The Kogi state House of Assembly impeached Achuba on 18 October following the submission of a report of a committee set up by the State Chief Judge, Justice Nasir Ajana, to investigate an allegation of gross misconduct against him.
Achuba was sworn in as the Deputy Governor on 9 February, after defecting to the All Progressives Congress (APC) from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
But the two men later fell out, with Achuba, in August 2019, raising an alarm of an alleged threat to his life as he accused Bello of intolerance of contrary views.
He also criticised Bello’s administration for non-performance, claiming that was the reason for the rift between him and the governor.