A Federal High Court in Kano has ordered the Chairman Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Mr. Babatunde Fowler to appear before it on October 7 and show cause why he should not be sacked for overstaying his four-year tenure which expired on August 18.
The presiding judge of the High Court, Justice Lewis Allagoa after hearing a plaintiff’s counsel on September 23, 2019, also ordered that the defendant should be served in Abuja and filed their defence within five days.
According to court documents, the FIRS boss was dragged to Court over his continued stay in office after the expiration of tenure.
The Plaintiff, Mr. Stanley Okwara, in a suit filed on September 18, 2019, also joined the Attorney General of the Federation as the second defendant.
In the originating summon, the two defendants were given 30 days to explain why Fowler who was appointed on the 20th August 2015, has not ceased to hold office as the Chairman of FIRS after the 20th August 2019 in accordance with the “decision of the Supreme Court…and having regard to the combined provisions of Sections 3(2) (a), Section 4(a) and Section 11 (a)” of the agency.
The Plaintiffs also sought to know whether the continuous stay of Fowler in the office “is not illegal in view of the decision of the Supreme Court in Ogbuinyinya & Ors. vs. Obi Okudo & Ors. (1979) All N.L.R. 105 and having regard to the combined provisions of Sections of the FIRS [Establishment] Act, 2007.
