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Court Orders Oyedepo’s University To Pay Ex-employee N10.3m As Damages, Terminal Benefit

Published

3 years ago

October 14, 2021

Editor

The National Industrial Court on Thursday ordered Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State, to pay its former employee, Dr. Adekunle Oyeyemi, the sum of N10.3 million as general damages, terminal benefit, and salary.

The judge, Justice Ayodele Obaseki-Osaghae, delivering judgment also declared that the termination of the claimant’s employment was wrongful and in breach of the contract of his employment.

The court ordered the payment of N8.2 million as the equivalent of his 24-month salary as general damages.

The sum of N1.7 million was ordered as terminal benefits and N344,635 being salary in lieu of notice, to be paid within 30 days.

The judge held that the university’s unilateral review of the claimant’s employment conversion to Senior Lecturer was wrongful.

The court stated that the action was unsolicited and was designed to make the workplace intolerable for him and force his exit.

Obaseki-Osaghae stated that there was no wrongdoing established before the court that necessitated the termination of the claimant’s appointment with immediate effect.

“The words with ‘immediate effect’ have the effect of stigmatization.

“The termination of the claimant’s employment is wrongful and not in accordance with international best practices.” the judge ruled.

From facts, the claimant submitted that he was employed as a full-time Director of the University’s Counseling Centre from Oct.1, 2007, to Nov.15, 2016, when his appointment was terminated without any misconduct.

In addition, he stated that he sent an internal memo to the Secretary of the University Board to state his position against the board’s resolution on the issue of tenure of Principal Officers and Directors.

He further said that he got a reply letter informing him that his tenure as the Director of the Centre had come to an end and he was being redeployed to the Department of Psychology as a Senior Lecturer, which was against his terms of employment.

The claimant’s counsel, Funmi Falana, submitted that the termination of her client’s employment was done contrary to the institution’s law.

She, therefore, sought an order of reinstatement amongst other reliefs.

The defendant, on its part, submitted that the claimant was invited to a roundtable discussion when his service was no longer required in its counselling centre.

The university also stated that when the claimant was informed of its decision to transfer him as a Senior Lecturer on contract, he consented to the arrangement.

The university stated that it decided to retain the claimant as a Senior Lecturer on contract as a kind gesture as he was over 60 years as at the time and was due for retirement.

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Teenager Jailed For Life For Murder Of 16-year-old Boy At House Party

Published

9 hours ago

May 4, 2024

Editor

A teenager who stabbed Mikey Roynon, 16, to death with a “zombie knife” has been jailed for life.

Shane Cunningham, 16, fatally stabbed Mikey Roynon in the neck with a large hunting-style knife during a 16th birthday house party in Bath, Somerset in June 2023.

Mr Justice Saini sentenced him to life in jail with a minimum sentence of 16 years before he could be released for parole after he was convicted of murder.

Teenager jailed for life for murder of boy, 16, at house party
Shane Cunningham

His co-accused – Cartel Bushnell and Leo Knight, both 16 – were convicted of manslaughter after being acquitted of the more serious charge.

A judge sentenced Bushnell to nine years of youth detention, while Knight was given nine-and-a-half years’ youth detention.

The judge ruled that all three could be identified despite their age after an application by the PA news agency.

Cunningham had claimed he was acting in self-defence, claiming during the trial that Mikey had swung a knife towards friends in the garden of the property. But the jury saw through his story following a trial at Bristol crown court.

Mikey collapsed on the driveway with heavy bleeding from a single knife wound to his neck.

Police, paramedics and doctors soon arrived at the scene in Weston, a north-west suburb of Bath, but Mikey died.

The defendants ran off and threw away their weapons, two of which were recovered by police.

Detective Inspector Mark Newbury said: “That three boys armed themselves with knives to go to a teenage girl’s 16th birthday party is utterly unconscionable.

“Mikey went to that party to socialise and to have a good time. Instead, he was attacked with a horrifying weapon, suffered a catastrophic injury and tragically lost his life.

“Mikey was a much loved teenage boy and his family have been left totally devastated.

“They have shown incredible bravery and have courageously spoken out against knife crime since his death, which is something they should never have to do.

“Since Mikey’s death, other young lives have been lost across our policing area and as a result we have launched a proactive operation to tackle and disrupt serious violence and knife crime involving young people.

“However, we know police enforcement alone won’t solve the problem and we’re working closely with our local authority partners, our colleagues in education and health and the Violence Reduction Partnership to identify the root causes and divert young people away from criminality.

“Our communities are also key and we’d like to encourage parents to talk to their children about knife crime – to make sure that they understand the terrible consequences carrying a knife can have and also how to report if they have concerns about someone they know carrying a knife.”

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Shock As Woman Who Visited Hospital For Scan Was Told She’s Dead

Published

11 hours ago

May 3, 2024

Editor

A woman was left shocked when she turned up to a hospital scan only to be told by staff that her records showed that she was already ‘’dead.”

Susan Johnson from Scarborough was left ‘shaking by a leaf’ after staff at the Bridlington Hospital in Yorkshire told her their records showed she’d been dead for four months.

The incident left Susan, 62, a retired housekeeper, baffled that her husband Bob needed to bring her a strong coffee to help calm her nerves.

The mother-of-two told BBC News: ‘I gave them my letter and their first words were, “ooh you’re dead”.

‘I said, “pardon?”. I was in shock.

‘Then they put something on the computer so I could have the scan and then they just said, “bye” and that’s it.’

It is unclear how the mistake happened as when Susan contacted her GP, they told her that the mistake had been fixed.

However, when she contacted the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), the call handler told her she was still marked as already dead on the system.

‘On the computer you’re dead,’ she was told. Susan then informed her she couldn’t be dead as she was on the phone and talking.

The error meant that Susan’s carer’s allowance for looking after her disabled husband Bob briefly stopped, though this has now been fixed.

She said she shut down completely after the news and said there was nobody to talk to about the mistake.

Scarborough Medical Group told the BBC they’d received an electronic instruction about the ‘death’ from Primary Care Support England (PCSE).

Susan is concentrating on her hobbies of gardening and knitting as she recovers from the shock.

An NHS spokesperson said: ‘We are aware of an issue involving a civil death registration being incorrectly recorded against a patient’s medical record.

‘This was removed within 24 hours of it being reported to us in March 2023 and the patient was re-registered by their GP.

‘We would encourage the patient to contact us directly so we can explain further.’

Headline

PHOTOS: Sandhurst Trained: UK High Commissioner Hosts First Nigerian Female To Graduate From Premier British Military Institution

Published

16 hours ago

May 3, 2024

Editor

The British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Richard Montgomery, has congratulated Princess Owowoh on making history at the United Kingdom’s Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS).

Taking to X.com on Thursday, Montgomery expressed his pleasure in meeting Owowoh, who was accompanied by an officer from the Nigerian Defence Academy.

Sharing photos, he wrote, “I was pleased to meet 2nd Lt. Princess Owowoh, the first Nigerian female officer cadet to graduate from the UK’s

#RMASandhurst, accompanied by Lt. Col Nyiam from the #NDefenceAcademy to congratulate her on making history, hear about her experience, and reflect on our Nigeria-British relationship.”

Owowoh graduated from the RMAS as the first-ever Nigerian female officer on April 12.

She joined the NDA in Kaduna in 2018, where she was appointed as a cadet lance corporal in her second year.

She rose to a cadet sergeant in her fourth year and was appointed company senior under Officer Charlie (CSUO C) in her fifth year.

Owowoh held the appointment with two other female counterparts and made history by becoming the first female to hold the position of CSUO at the academy.

During her fourth year, she completed the academic component of the commissioning course, achieving first-class honours in biological sciences.

See the photos below: