By Taiye Agbaje
Mr Sunday Akintunde, former Assistant General Manager (AGM), Technical of NICON Insurance Company Limited, has filed a N492 million suit against the company over allegations bordering on backlog of unpaid salaries and other entitlements.
Akintunde, in an amended suit marked: NICN/ABJ/264/2023 filed at the National Industrial Court, Abuja, prayed the court to declare that his former employer was in breach of the terms of the contract of employment with him.
The former staff, who said he had discharged his duties effectively and consistently from the time of his employment till the date of his disengagement on July 13, 2022, averred that his employment termination was unlawful and without any justifiable basis.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that while Akintunde is the claimant, NICON Insurance Company Limited is the sole defendant in the suit filed by his lawyer, Mr. Noah Ajare.
Akintunde, in a statement of claim, alleged that the insurance company did not pay his six months backlog of salaries before the unlawful termination of his employment.
He also said that the firm was still holding among other things; his terminal benefit, the unremitted pension deducted from his salary for several months, and the mandatory employers contribution to his Pension Fund Account (PFA) for the period of over four years he worked with them.
The claimant said though he was not denying his obligation to pay back the N3, 099,401.88 net debt owed his former employer which NICON Insurance paid on his behalf while he was in its service, he said the organisation too should do a proper accounting of his entitlements and make provisions for all the financial benefits due to him.
He said he was ready to schedule the payment of the net balance if any because he neither usurp on anyone’s right nor take over another person’s property.
He alleged that as soon as his employment was terminated, he was asked to return the N3, 099,401.88 or return his KIA Optima vehicle which NICON Insurance accused him of fraudulently absconded with.
“Not long after that, he received a memo from the Admin Officer and later from the ED Finance and Admin that he should surrender the vehicle documents because it has become NICON Insurance Company’s property,” he said.
The claimant, who averred that the vehicle particulars and change of ownership documents indicated that he was the true owner, insisted he had been using the KIA Optima car before joining the company.
Akintunde alleged that the company had resulted to using the police to threaten and harass him through continuous invitation.
He, therefore, sought an order directing the insurance firm to pay him the sum of N200 million, “being special damages for character assassination, thereby hurting the claimant’s status as a preacher, a church leader and a man of principle holding responsible positions in the corporate settings and the society.”
He also sought an order directing the company to pay him N200 million in damages for alleged wrongly termination of employment and for falsely accusing him “of stealing and converting the defendant’s car as his personal car,” among other reliefs amounting to N492 million.
The suit, which was assigned to Justice R.B. Haastrup, had been fixed for Dec. 18 for hearing.(NAN)
