By Desire Emmanuel
The National Industrial Court has dismissed a suit filed by one Sesan Bankole against the Oyo State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) and the Attorney General of Oyo State challenging his dismissal from service for being statute-barred.
The court said he came late as he filed the suit seven years after he was dismissed from the service of the organisation.
Justice Dele Peters of the Ibadan Division of the court, while dismissing the case, held that Bankole commenced the action outside the five-year limitation period prescribed under the Limitation Law of Oyo State, and that the court therefore lacks jurisdiction to entertain the suit.
According to court documents, Bankole disclosed that he was employed in 1994 as a Personal Assistant and he later rose to the position of Finance Officer at the Oluyole Local Government Universal Basic Education Authority under the Oyo State Universal Basic Education Board.
He added that he received a query accompanied by suspension through a letter dated July 2017. He said he responded and appeared before a panel. He was eventually dismissed from service through a letter in the same year.
The defendants – Oyo State Universal Basic Education Board and the Attorney General of Oyo State, while responding, submitted that the suit filed by Bankole is statute-barred under the Limitation Law of Oyo State, and hence Bankole lost his right to seek judicial redress.
They argued that the cause of action arose in August 2017 when Bankole was dismissed from service, while the case was instituted in September 2024 which is outside the five years allowed by law for instituting such actions, and urged the court to dismiss the suit.
Delivering judgment, Justice Peters stated that jurisdiction is the legal capacity of a court to adjudicate over a matter and that where a court lacks jurisdiction, any effort made in the determination of the matter becomes an exercise in futility.
The judge further held that Section 18 of the Limitation Law of Oyo State provides that actions founded on contract must be brought within five years from the date the cause of action accrued.
He added that Bankole had five years within which to approach the court, but waited for seven years before filing the present action, thereby bringing the suit outside the limitation period allowed by law.
“The cause of action of the claimant arose in 2017. Claimant has five years within which to seek judicial intervention. For reasons best known to him, his counsel, or both, he waited for about seven years before approaching this court for intervention.
“This action is barred by the statute and unfortunately this court cannot help the claimant. The effect of an action that is statute barred is that it renders the action barren, sterile, incompetent and the court is robbed of the exercise of its judicial powers.” The judge ruled.
