The Court of Appeal in Ado-Ekiti on Monday upheld a lower court’s judgement and reinstated 86 sacked employees of the Ekiti State University.

Delivering judgement in the appeal filed by EKSU against the decision of the National Industrial Court, Akure, Abdul-Azeez Waziri, who read the lead judgement, dismissed the appeal and ordered their reinstatement with payment of their full benefits.

The university dismissed the 86 employees consisting of both academic and non-academic staff on December 5, 2019.

However, the employees who were irked by the action of the university management challenged their dismissal at the NIC sitting in Akure. On January 21, 2021, the court delivered judgement in their favour.

EKSU, dissatisfied with the judgement, appealed, but the court ruled in favour of the respondents and directed the university to pay N50,000 to each respondent as a cost.

Equally, Mr Waziri ordered that the employees be paid arrears of their three-month salaries.

Counsel to the respondents, Masewonrun Temitope, described the judgement as a great victory for the respondents.

One of the reinstated staff, Ajayi Babatunde, said the judgement showed that there was still hope for the commoner in Nigeria with the court’s pronouncement.

(NAN)