Ubani threatened to sue the FG over the government’s requirement that civil servants be vaccinated.

Dr. Monday Ubani, a lawyer, has stated that if the federal government enforces the directive on mandatory vaccination for civil servants in the country, he will not hesitate to take them to court.
Ubani is the Chairman of the NBA-SPIDEL (Nigerian Bar Association Section on Public Interest and Development Law).
He recalled that Mr Boss Mustapha, Secretary to the Government of the Federation/Chairman of the Presidential Steering Committee on Covid-19, had announced last week that all civil servants in Nigeria must show proof of vaccination or present a negative Covid-19 PCR test result done within 72 hours to gain access to their various offices within Nigeria and Missions abroad, with effect from December 1, 2021.
Ubani described the directive as insensitive, claiming that it violated existing labor terms as well as civil servants’ fundamental rights to privacy, life, movement, religious belief and faith, and liberty.

“Any directive on mandatory vaccination is immature, unnecessary, unacceptable, and should be completely rejected,” Ubani says.
The directive’s punishment of denial of access to office is a clear breach of the contractual terms of employment, as well as a restriction on the freedom of movement and liberty guaranteed by Chapter 4 of the 1999 constitution, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights.
“When these civil servants were hired, mandatory vaccinations and the consequences of non-compliance were not part of their contract terms.”
This new policy is an affront to good working relationships and goes against international labor standards.
Any attempt by the Federal Government to continue with this illegal policy will be met with a strong legal challenge.”

According to Ubani, in the absence of substantive legislation making Covid-19 vaccination mandatory, such a policy directive, which would invariably deprive people of their guaranteed rights, is illogical, unlawful, and null and void.
Ubani also insisted that the best policy for the country is for citizens not to be allowed to relax their guard in the face of the pandemic’s prevention measures.
“Because the government has failed to persuade the citizens on the issue of health, safety, and bodily harm of this vaccination, they are advised to abandon their current policy, which is at odds with the citizens’ bodily integrity,” he said.
They should instead use persuasion techniques to persuade citizens of the benefits of the vaccines, but most importantly, they should pursue free education, free health policies, and other social welfare policies and make them mandatory for citizens, which will earn the government praise.”