The Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, has directed the Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), Mrs. Kemi Nandap, to obey the judgment delivered by the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) compelling the NIS to reinstate an officer of the Service, Daniel Makolo, who was unlawfully sacked.
The AGF’s directive is contained in his response to a letter from the NIS’s Comptroller-General, requesting “legal guidance” on how to deal with the issue.
The AGF in the letter filed with a fresh suit before the NICN, the NIS’ Comptroller-General was cautioned about the implications of not obeying a court’s judgment.
“Request for legal guidance – Re: Budget Office of the Federation: Between Daniel Dauda Makolo vs. Nigerian Immigration Service.
“The Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice (HAGF/MJ) acknowledges receipt of your letter with Reference Number: NIS/HQ/LEG/292/24, dated 25th July 2025, on the above caption.
“You are by this letter advised to take steps to comply with the judgment of the National Industrial Court, since it was not appealed and therefore remains valid, subsisting, and enforceable.
“Compliance is necessary to forestall exposure to contempt proceedings and other legal consequences.
“Please accept the assurance of the warm regards of the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice,” the letter reads.
In the new suit Makolo filed before the court in Abuja, he stated that he decided to file another suit to compel the NIS’ Comptroller-General to comply with the directive of the AGF, contained in the letter, dated September 18, 2025, written after an earlier letter from the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), requesting her to address the issue.
Recall that the NICN had in its judgement of January 24, 2023, in the suit marked: NICN/ABJ/337/2020 between Daniel Makolo and the Interior Minister, NIS, and four others, voided Makolo’s dismissal and ordered the defendants to, among others, reinstate him without losing any rank.
However, Makolo in the fresh suit, seek an order directing the Interior Minister, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo; the Secretary, Civil Defence, Correctional, Fire & Immigration Services Board (CDFIPSB), Major General Abdulmalik Jibrin; NIS’ Comptroller-General; the Head of Service of the Federation (HSoF), Mrs. Didi Walson-Jack, and Fagbemi to comply with the judgment.
Makolo also in the new suit prayed the court to give an order that failure to obey the relevant orders contained in the judgment “shall attract coercive enforcement measures, including contempt proceedings.”
Makolo listed the grounds upon which the prayers are predicated to include:
” That since the court gave its judgment in 2023, the defendants have failed to comply.
“The defendants/judgment debtors have failed, refused, or neglected to comply with the said judgment orders despite several and various interventions by many senior and responsible Federal Government agencies, such as the President, through the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, and the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister for Justice.
“Their interventions were blatantly ignored without qualms. Each judgment order of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria is binding and enforceable independently.
“The NICN has express statutory and inherent powers to compel obedience to its orders. Courts of law do not make orders in vain.
“There is no stay of execution or appeal operating as a bar to the enforcement of the said court judgment.
“The defendants/judgment debtors’ refusal is deliberate, iniquitous, and contemptuous.”
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