Former
Spokesperson of the Department of State Service, DSS, Marilyn Ogar, has dragged
the Federal Government before the National Industrial Court, NIC, sitting in
Abuja, over the abrupt termination of her employment by the President Muhammadu
Buhari led administration.
Ogar who formerly held sway as the Deputy Director
in charge of Public Relations at the DSS under ex-President Goodluck Jonathan,
was on September 3, 2015, demoted and compulsorily retired by the Federal
Government.
She
was sacked alongside 44 other top directors in the security agency, who were
beneficiaries of a promotion exercise that was carried out by Jonathan’s
administration in March last year. Ogar’s elevation to the rank of a deputy
director followed a commendation by ex-President Jonathan who was impressed
with her public enlightenment campaigns on anti-terrorism.
However,
shortly after his election victory, President Buhari fired the then Director
General of the DSS, Mr. Ita Ekpeyong, and appointed Lawal Daura in his stead.
Upon his assumption of office as DG of the DSS, Daura, immediately demoted all
the personnel that benefited from the promotion exercise that was okayed by
ex-President Jonathan, even as he summarily retired Ogar.
The
promotion was said to have been done with little regard to due process and
extant rules guiding such exercise. Prior to her retirement, Ogar was
reportedly redeployed to Maiduguri, Borno State, after her demotion. Her ordeal
was perceived in some quarters as an aftermath of alleged partisan role she
played towards the build up to the 2015 general elections.
Meantime, in the suit she lodged before the NIC, the former
DSS spokesperson insisted that she was illegally removed from office. Ogar,
through her lead counsel, Mr. Ahmed Raji, SAN, is praying the court to set
aside her purported demotion from Assistant Director to Chief Security
Intelligence Officer.
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