President Muhammadu Buhari at the weekend sacked Chairman, Investment and Securities Tribunal (IST), Mr. Siaka Isiah Idoko-Akoh.
A senior official of the tribunal, Mr. J. I. Udunni, has been appointed to replace him.
Idoko-Akoh’s disengagement came via a circular signed by the Permanent Secretary Federal Ministry of Finance, Dr. Mahmoud Isa-Dutse.
It read: “I write to convey the approval of Mr. President for your removal from office as the Chairman of the Investment and Securities Tribunal (IST) with immediate effect. Accordingly, you are required to hand over the office of the Chairman including all property(ies) of the IST in your custody to Mr. J. I. Udunni, a full-time member of the Tribunal, who by this same letter from the State House has been appointed as Acting Chairman of the IST,” the memo said.
Though the reason for Idoko-Akoh’s removal was not officially ascertained, Sunday Sun gathered that the man had squabbles with workers on many occasions bothering on emolument payment.
Already, the Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services Employees (AUPCTRE) hailed President Muhammadu Buhari for his removal as IST Chairman. The Chairman FCT Council, Comrade Aliyu Maradun and Ag. Secretary FCT Council, Comrade Adebanjo Jubril of AUPCTRE, one of the affiliated unions of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), at a joint briefing yesterday in Abuja said the suspended IST Chairman vehemently oppose the progress and actualization of the mandate given by President Mohammed Buhari, on IST and its workers.
“It is very unfortunate that the Chairman, Investment and Securities Tribunal (IST) Mr. Isiah Idoko-Akoh, unilaterally handled IST as if it is his personal private property without recourse to Civil/ Public Service Rules and Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“The struggle for emancipation of workers and revival of IST became pertinent, when the union discovered that the Tribunal is on the verge of being collapsed by the former Chairman, due to his high-handedness, maladministration and high level of corruption in which the union petitioned ICPC, EFCC and Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit (PICA) for investigation and prosecution,” Maradun said.
