A National Assembly official, Anthony Adebanjo, who faces age falsification allegation, has applied to the Federal High Court in Abuja for a restraining order against any move to sack him.
Mr Adebanjo, a director and assistant clerk of the National Assembly, denied the allegation in his application filed on February 14, 2022. He also prayed in the application for an order restraining the authorities from acting on the alleged false claim.
A non-governmental organisation, Crime Free and Peace Initiative, had accused Mr Adebanjo and two other officials of the National Assembly of records falsification leading to contradictory dates of birth in their personal files.
Last year, the orgainsation filed a suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1269/2021 at the court, seeking an order removing Mr Adebanjo and the two others – Okpara Nnachi and Dauda El-Ladan – from office.
The trio – Messrs Nnachi, El-Ladan, and Adebanjo – were sued as the first to the third defendants, in addition to the Senate President, the Clerk of the National Assembly, the Chairman of the National Assembly Commission, and the Attorney-General of the Federation, as co-defendants.
The suit cited and exhibited an October 14, 2020 report of the National Assembly “affirming the allegations raised against the trio of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd defendants for falsification of records”.
In the copy of the report of investigation subsequently sent to the State Intelligence Bureau (SIB) of the police in Abuja, the National Assembly accused Mr Adebanjo of falsifying his date of birth of April 14, 1962 to April 14, 1964.
It also accused Mr El-Laden of having three different dates of birth – October 6, 1961, October 6, 1962, and October 6, 1963 – in his personal file.
For Mr Nnachi, he is said to have sworn to an affidavit reflecting September 9, 1965, as his date of birth, “instead of the correct September 9, 1962 captured in the nominal roll”.
In its application filed November 19, 2021, the plaintiff sought an interlocutory injunction restraining the three officials “from continuous occupation of their continuous occupation of their various designations.”
The organisation stated that the police SIB requested the National Assembly to release them but nothing was ever heard of.
Rebuttal
The officials have denied the record falsification allegation, with Mr Adebanjo filing an application on February 14, 2022 to seek an order of court restraining the Senate from acting on it.
In the affidavit he filed in support of the application, Mr Adebanjo said he had not been served with the plaintiff’s suit as he only got wind of it via a newspaper publication.
“The newspaper publication is alleging that I have been sacked as a result of facts related to the instant suit; however, nothing of such has occurred as of the time of filing this application.
“That I have every reason therefore to believe that the allegations contained in the false newspaper publication might come through if nothing is done to prevent it,” he stated.
He added that the plaintiff “is out to tarnish and/or bring my reputation into odium in the eye of any reasonable or right-thinking member of the society”
His right, Mr Adebanjo noted, “is about to be infringed as a result of the false allegations contained in the said newspaper publication.”
“That I believe if the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th defendants are not restrained by the order(s) of this court they could take any step or an action in line with the false allegations contained in the said newspaper publication,” his affidavit read in part.
The respondents have yet to respond to Mr Adebanjo’s application.
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