O. Eno Osagie V. New Nigeria Bank Plc. (2004)

LawGlobal-Hub Lead Judgment Report

AMINA ADAMU AUGIE, J.C.A.

This is an appeal against the judgment of Omage, J. (as he then was) delivered on the 19th October, 1998, wherein he dismissed the appellant’s claims against the respondent for the following reliefs-

(1) A declaration that the defendant’s letter of dismissal dated 3rd June, 1991 with reference No.  NNB/PC.140/18 and signed by Mrs. P. I. Uloho-Sokoh, the Industrial Relations Manager is unlawful, wrongful and therefore null and void and of no effect whatsoever.

(2) An Injunction restraining the defendant from giving effect to the contents of the said letter.

(3) An order directing the defendant to re-instate the plaintiff forthwith and to pay the plaintiff his arrears of salary and other entitlements/benefits from August 1988 till whenever he is re-instated.

(4) A declaration that the plaintiff is still a staff of the defendant. Alternatively, the plaintiff claims the sum of N273,960.20 being his arrears of salaries and allowances he would have earned from August 1988 till 1997 when he would have retired from the service of the defendant. Or, an order directing the defendant to convert plaintiff’s dismissal to retirement and to be paid all his entitlements.

On its own part, the respondent urged the lower court in paragraph 12 of its amended statement of defence to –
“Dismiss with substantial costs all the claims and prayer contained in paragraph 27 of the plaintiff’s statement of claim; (supra) as they are baseless, frivolous, misconceived, speculative and gold digging”

At the trial that ensued, the appellant gave evidence for himself and the respondent testified through one of its officers. The facts of this case from the respective standpoint of the parties are in my view germane to this appeal, and will be set out hereunder. This will no doubt facilitate a better understanding of the issues involved in this appeal. The details of the case from the appellant’s perspective are as follows. He was employed as a clerical officer in the respondent’s bank in October 1971 and rose to the rank of accountant II, a senior staff position governed by the ‘main collective agreement’ (exhibit E04).

He was sent to the respondent’s Uzebba branch as relief manager where he approved an enhanced overdraft facility of N91,000.00 to one of the customers of the branch, the owner of the account No. 237, a produce buyer, who before then enjoyed an overdraft facility of only N15,000.00. The appellant thereafter wrote to the Credit Controller and asked for ratification from the Area Manager who was his immediate supervising officer. The Area Manager however issued him a query. Subsequently, he was suspended from duty by the respondent and handed over to the police on the allegation that he defrauded the bank of N88,000.00. He was arraigned before the Magistrate Court, Afuze on charge No. MOA/78C/88, found guilty and sentenced to 6 years imprisonment on the 24th May, 1991. That same day, 24th May, 1991, he filed a notice of appeal against the judgment in the High Court, Afuze. While the appeal was pending, the respondent dismissed the appellant for fraud and irregular practice as per their letter of 3rd June, 1991 (exhibit EOS), which reads as follows:-
“Dismissal
Re: Fraud and Irregular Practices in Respect of Cash, Vouchers, Records and Customers’ Account-
We refer to the subject matter of the Chief Inspector’s query of 22nd August, 1988 and your subsequent reply of 29th August, 1988, which led to your suspension, and wish to inform you that the appropriate Disciplinary Committee has carefully considered your matter in all its ramification and found your representation unsatisfactory and unacceptable. You were therefore found guilty of the relative offence as charged.

Consequently, it was decided that you be dismissed from the services of the bank in accordance with the conditions of service applicable to you. You are hereby dismissed from the services of the New Nigeria Bank Limited with effect from the date of this letter.”

The Afuze High Court however allowed the appeal on the 30th of July, 1992. The conviction and sentence imposed on the appellant by the lower court was set aside, and in their stead, the appellant was discharged and acquitted – see exhibit EOI9. Following this development, the appellant wrote exhibit EOI5, requesting for re-instatement.

The respondent in exhibit E016 dated 8th January, 1993, replied as follows-
“Re: Your Letter of Re-Instatement
Your letter dated 28th September, 1992, in respect of the above subject-matter refers. We wish to congratulate you on your discharge and acquittal by the High Court of Justice, Afuze. However, we wish to inform you that due to re-organization that has taken place in the bank we are unable to reabsorb you.”

It was when he was not re-instated nor paid his entitlements that the appellant instituted the action that led to this appeal. The case for the respondent however, is that the reason for the appellant’s dismissal was sequel to the query to him dated 22nd August, 1988 (exhibit E020). It reads –
“Query: Fraud and Irregular Practices in respect of Cash, Vouchers, Records, and Customer’s Account
While relieving the branch manager of our Uzebba branch, you purportedly paid three cheques… on account No. 237 (Messrs. Ayodele and Matthew A. Osemobor) on 12th August, 1988. You wrote to the Credit Controller and copied the Area Manager that you advanced the money against graded cocoa. Looking through the advance file, we discovered that there was nothing to confirm that the money was advanced for produce. In actual fact it has not been the practice of the bank since the dissolution of cocoa board to pay against graded cocoa. The substantive manager in his handing over notes did not advise you to do this but warned you not to exceed the limit of N15,000.00. Evidence available to us show that you did not advance the N92,000.00 to the customer against their produce but you exchanged your cheques for N89,000.00 with customers (see attached photocopies of the cheques).

Information available to us show that you had treated your two cheques… as cheques purchased on your account at Auchi. On the strength of the two cheques you issued drafts … The draft for N10,000.00 was payable to banks Eno’97Osagie (your first son) and the draft for N45,000.00 was made payable to Collins Ebohon. We have since discovered that Collins Ebohon is your second son and you have successfully cashed the drafts. When you found that the cheques you treated as cheques purchased will expose you in no distant date, you used your position as a Manager to convince the customers to give you their cheques with which you replaced the C.P cheques which you held for three days and one day respectively. You eventually pushed the entries through on 12th August, 1988. We are reliably informed that you refused to handover to the substantive manager for four days and even threatened him with knife and gun. You illegally collected N33,000.00 cash from the strong room. By your actions you flouted A.G.M. (Operations) Circular No. 44/88, ref. NNB/AGM/OPS/Vol.IV /93, dated 23rd December, 1987.