The National Industrial Court in Abuja has ordered the Ekiti State government to immediately pay all entitlements and arrears owed to former Deputy Governor Dr. Sikiru Tae Lawal since October 2010.
The judgment, delivered by Justice E.D. Subilim, not only vindicates Dr. Lawal’s long-standing claims but also sends a pointed message to state governments across the federation: political circumstances surrounding an exit from office cannot be weaponized to deny a public servant benefits lawfully earned during service.
Dr. Lawal’s story is one deeply woven into Ekiti State’s turbulent political history. He served as deputy governor to Governor Segun Oni, a tenure that came to an abrupt and dramatic end when the Court of Appeal, Ilorin Division, nullified the election that brought both men to power on October 15, 2010, subsequently installing Dr. Kayode Fayemi as governor in their place.
It was at that precise moment, the stroke of judicial intervention, that Dr. Lawal’s troubles began. Despite having served in office without impeachment, without any finding of personal wrongdoing, and without any stain on his conduct as deputy governor, the Ekiti State government moved to treat him as though he had never held office at all. No pension was paid. No severance allowance was processed. No monthly stipend was remitted.
For over fourteen years, Dr. Lawal alleged, he was left entirely without the financial benefits guaranteed to former political office holders under Ekiti State law.
What made the situation all the more galling, according to Dr. Lawal, was the apparent double standard at play. While he was left to fend for himself, his former principal, ex-Governor Oni, was, by his account, receiving his benefits as a former governor without incident. The implication was unmistakable: the state government had chosen to make a distinction where the law drew none.
Determined to seek justice, Dr. Lawal approached the National Industrial Court through his lawyers, led by Mr. Adeboro Adamson, SAN. The legal team mounted a robust case anchored on the provisions of the Ekiti State Pensions Law, 2012, as amended in 2014 and 2015, as well as the Grant of Pensions (Amendment) Law of Ekiti State, 2014.
The suit named three defendants: the governor of Ekiti State, the attorney general and commissioner for justice, and the Ekiti State government itself.
Dr. Lawal sought, among other reliefs, a declaration that the non-payment of his entitlements was unlawful, illegal, unconstitutional, and unjustifiable. He also asked the court to direct the defendants to calculate and pay all outstanding benefits from October 15, 2010, to the date of judgment, and to continue such payments going forward. Additionally, he prayed for N100 million in general damages for what he described as years of deliberate financial marginalization.
The Ekiti State Government, represented by counsel Gbemiga Adaramola, mounted a defense centered on one core argument: that because the election that brought Dr. Lawal into office was nullified by the Court of Appeal, he was never, in the eyes of the law, truly a deputy governor.
As far as the state was concerned, a nullified election produced no legitimate officeholder—and a man who was never legally a deputy governor could not, by extension, be entitled to a deputy governor’s benefits.
The government further denied any knowledge of paying entitlements to former Governor Oni, pushing back against allegations of selective treatment. It maintained that it had neither discriminated against Dr. Lawal nor violated his fundamental rights, since, in its view, he had no rights to those benefits in the first place.
It was a legally tidy argument. But the court was not persuaded.
Justice Subilim dismissed the Ekiti State Government’s objections in their entirety. In a ruling that legal observers are likely to cite in future cases of a similar nature, the court held unequivocally that the non-payment of Dr. Lawal’s pension, severance benefits, monthly stipend with arrears, and other entitlements under the applicable Ekiti State laws was “unlawful, illegal, unconstitutional, and unjustifiable.”
The court ordered the defendants to immediately calculate and pay to Dr. Lawal all outstanding severance benefits, pensions, and monthly stipends, including all accumulated arrears from October 15, 2010, through to the date of judgment and to continue such payments thereafter as prescribed by law.
But Justice Subilim did not stop there. In a further rebuke to the state government, the court awarded Dr. Lawal N10 million in aggravated and exemplary damages, citing what it described as the defendants’ “oppressive, arbitrary, and unconstitutional conduct” in withholding his vested entitlements.
The use of the phrase “exemplary damages” is significant; it signals that the court viewed the state’s conduct not merely as an administrative oversight but as a deliberate and punishable wrong.
To ensure full compliance, the court also directed that post-judgment interest be applied at 10% per annum on the total judgment sum, calculated from the date of judgment until every naira is fully paid.
This judgment raises questions that extend well beyond Ekiti State. It confronts a recurring legal grey area in Nigerian jurisprudence: what is the status of a public official whose election is annulled after the fact, particularly when that official served in office in good faith, performed constitutional duties, and left without any personal legal wrongdoing?
The court’s ruling suggests that the annulment of an election does not retroactively erase the reality of service rendered, nor does it extinguish benefits that have accrued under statute. The entitlements in question are not political gifts; they are legal rights codified in state law.
For former political officeholders in similar circumstances across Nigeria’s 36 states, this verdict may well serve as a legal precedent—and an invitation to revisit their own denied claims.
For the Ekiti State Government, the bill that has now arrived after fourteen years of silence is likely to be a substantial one. The calculation of arrears spanning over a decade, compounded by exemplary damages and 10% annual post-judgment interest, could run into tens of millions of naira.
Dr. Lawal, for his part, has waited a long time for this day. The court has now spoken, and it has spoken clearly.
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW
After more than fourteen years of financial exclusion, the National Industrial Court has ruled decisively in favor of former Ekiti Deputy Governor Dr. Sikiru Tae Lawal, ordering the state government to pay all his outstanding entitlements, pension, severance allowance, and monthly stipends dating back to October 2010.
