Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Justice Minister Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) has directed the Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), Mrs. Kemi Nanna-Nandap, to comply with a subsisting judgment of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) compelling the NIS to recall Daniel Makolo, an officer it unlawfully disengaged.

The AGF was responding to a letter from the NIS’ Comptroller-General requesting “legal guidance” on how to address the issue.

In the AGF’s letter, now filed along with a fresh suit before the NICN, the NIS’ Comptroller-General was cautioned about the consequences of failing to obey a court’s judgment.

The letter reads: “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 July 25, 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.”

Makolo stated, in the fresh suit now before the NICN in Abuja, that his decision to return to court was informed by the failure of the NIS’ Comptroller-General to comply with the directive of the AGF, contained in the letter, dated September 18, last year, written after an earlier letter from the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), requesting her to address the issue.

The NICN had, in the January 24, 2023 judgment in the suit marked: NICN/ABJ/337/2020 between Daniel Makolo and the Interior Minister, the NIS, and four others, voided Makolo’s dismissal and ordered the defendants to, among others, reinstate him without losing any rank.

Makolo is, in the new suit, seeking an order directing Interior Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo; the Secretary, Civil Defence, Correctional, Fire & Immigration Services Board (CDFIPSB), Major General Abdulmalik Jibrin; the NIS’ Comptroller-General; the Head of Service of the Federation (HSoF), Mrs. Didi Walson-Jack; and Fagbemi to comply with the judgment

He is also praying the court to order that failure to comply with the relevant orders contained in the judgment “shall attract coercive enforcement measures, including contempt proceedings”.

The prayers are predicated upon some grounds, including the fact 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,” Makolo stated. (The Nation)

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