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Hon. Justice Yakubu Hassan of the Ibadan Judicial Division of the National Industrial Court has dismissed the suit filed by one Oluyemisi against Water Corporation of Oyo State, Attorney-General & Commissioner for Justice, and Oyo State Pensions Board for being statute-barred and for want of jurisdiction.
The Court held that Oluyemisi failed to institute her action within the period prescribed by the Limitation Law of Oyo State and consequently lost the right to enforce her claims before the Court.
From facts, the claimant, Oluyemisi, had submitted that she was employed by the Water Corporation of Oyo State in 1977, her employment was then confirmed in 1979, and she rose through the ranks to become a Senior Store Officer before her suspension in August 2000 following allegations of misconduct.
Oluyemisi added that she was prosecuted, discharged and acquitted, that while the appeal filed against her acquittal was dismissed, the Water Corporation of Oyo State failed to recall her from suspension or pay her entitlements until she attained retirement age in 2012.
Therefore, she sought several declaratory and monetary reliefs, including a declaration that her suspension without pay for over twelve years was unlawful, payment of accumulated salaries and allowances, gratuity, pension arrears, leave allowances, lifetime pension, interest on judgment sum, and general and exemplary damages totalling over seventeen million naira.
In defence, Water Corporation of Oyo State and others maintained that Oluyemisi was never dismissed from service but absconded from duty and failed to honour several official invitations and communications issued to her.
Counsel to the Water Corporation of Oyo State and others argued that the suit was statute-barred, that the Claimant commenced the action in 2017, long after the accrual of the alleged cause of action, which occurred on the 25th August, 2000, and urged the Court to dismiss the case in its entirety.
In opposition, the Claimant’s Counsel argued that the cause of action accrued to the Claimant from the 24th July, 2017, when his client wrote to the Water Corporation to pay her entitlement, and it was refused, and his client instituted the action in 2017, which is well within five years of the cause of action.
In another argument, Learned Counsel stated that the Defendants appealed against acquitting Claimant's decision in 2014, postponing the accrual of the cause of action till after the determination of the appeal, which was dismissed in 2017. Consequently, Counsel contended that it shows that the Statute of Limitation cannot fly. To that extent, Counsel urged the court to discountenance the plea of Statute of Limitation in the interest of justice.
In a well-considered Judgement, Hon. Justice Yakubu Hassan held that the suspension of Oluyemisi in August 2000 did not terminate her employment and therefore did not constitute the date when the cause of action arose.
The Court held that the cause of action arose in 2012 when Oluyemisi had attained retirement age while still on suspension and ought to have sought legal redress immediately after her retirement, and that Oluyemisi's institution of action in October 2017 was outside the five-year limitation period prescribed by the Limitation Law of Oyo State.
Justice Hassan ruled that no matter how promising the case of the Plaintiff may appear to be, once it is statute-barred, it is dead and buried forever, and such a Plaintiff is left with an empty cause of action that is rendered unenforceable.
Justice Hassan held that the pendency of criminal proceedings did not prevent Mrs. Oluyemisi Asunmo from instituting a civil action since civil and criminal proceedings may run concurrently.
The Court dismissed the entire suit and ordered that each party shall bear its own costs.
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