The Nigerian Army had in June 2016 announced the compulsory retirement of 38 officers on different ranks on the ground of alleged professional misconduct.
Many of the affected officers had subsequently instituted suits individually against the Nigerian Army; Nigerian Army Council; the Chief of Army Staff, Armed Forces Council; Chief of Defence Staff; and the Attorney-General of the Federation.
Other officers were sacked or compulsorily retired at different times.
They claimed this was after exhausting internal mechanisms for redress without success. They, therefore, approached courts and got favourable judgements to be reinstated, but to no avail.
Among them are Major-Generals F.O Atewe; Ijiomah N. Ijiomah; L.C. Ilo, T.C. Ude, L. Wiwa, S.D. Aliyu, M.Y. Ibrahim, and O. Ejemai.
Others are Kenneth Minimah; D. Abdulsalam; Anthony Onibasa; Koko Essien; Bright Fibioinumana; L.N. Bello; Alli Moundhey; Brigadier- General Ransome Kuti and Brigadier-General Abubakar Hanafi Sa’ad.
Also yet to be reinstated are colonels Danladi Ribah Hassan, Abdulfatai Mohammed; Auwal Suleiman; Ayigbe, T.A. Williams; Ojebo Ochanpa (deceased); A. Adimoha; T.O. Oladuntoye; O.C. Egemole; O.U. Nwankwo and Navy Captain Bola Labinjo and his wife.
The dismissal and compulsory retirement issues were also deliberated upon by Federal House of Representatives and the Senate, with a call on the Nigerian Army to reinstate the affected officers.
Military shuns multiple court pronouncements
Major-General Ibrahim Sani, who was the Chief of Transformation and Innovation at the Nigerian Army headquarters before his dismissal said the court order for his reinstatement had not been obeyed, two years after.
Following the judgement nullifying Sani’s dismissal on the ground of lack of fair hearing, his legal team, led by Magaji Mahmud, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), disclosed that the implication of the appeal verdict was that “The special court-martial, the proceedings, conviction and sentence of the court never existed in the eyes of the law.”
While setting aside the dismissal, the Court of Appeal held that the military court-martial that convicted him breached his right to fair hearing as contained in section 36(6) and (7) of the Nigerian Constitution, 1999
Source :Daily Trust