The National Industrial Court has dismissed a suit filed by a former councillor in Bayelsa State seeking the payment of N1.5 million in outstanding allowances from the Sagbama Local Government Council, ruling that he failed to establish his entitlement to the claim.
The court held that the claimant, Barr. Peremobowei, could not rely solely on a circular issued by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) to justify his claim, declaring that the circular does not apply to local government councillors.
The judgment was delivered on Wednesday by the Presiding Judge of the Yenagoa Judicial Division of the National Industrial Court, Justice Polycarp Hamman, who dismissed the suit for want of proof.
The claimant had argued that he served as a councillor in Sagbama Local Government Area between 2004 and 2007 and was denied some of his statutory allowances during his tenure.
He told the court that a committee set up by the Bayelsa State Ministry of Local Government Administration later assessed the outstanding entitlements of former councillors and recommended payment, following which he received N280,000 in instalments.
Peremobowei maintained that the payment was discontinued, leaving an outstanding balance of N1.5 million, which he sought to recover alongside N600,000 as litigation costs and N1 million in general damages.
However, the Sagbama Local Government Council denied owing the former councillor, insisting that all lawful entitlements due to councillors who served between 2004 and 2007 had been paid.
The council also argued that the suit was statute-barred under the Bayelsa State Limitation Law because it was filed more than five years after the cause of action arose.
In his judgment, Justice Hamman rejected the limitation argument, holding that the suit was based on the recommendations of the committee report produced in 2015 and filed in 2017, which was within the prescribed limitation period.
The court, however, held that although the claimant established that he served as a councillor and that the committee acknowledged certain outstanding claims, his case was fundamentally anchored on the RMAFC circular.
Justice Hamman ruled that local government councillors are not legislators within the meaning of the Constitution and, therefore, do not fall within the category of public office holders whose remuneration can be fixed through the RMAFC circular.
The judge held that since the claimant failed to support his claim with any Bayelsa State law, regulation or circular giving legal effect to the RMAFC circular, the action could not succeed and was accordingly dismissed.