THE National Industrial Court (NIC) sitting in Lagos has ordered the Nigerian Army to immediately reinstate 70 soldiers who were convicted by courts-martial in 2014 but later granted an unconditional presidential pardon by the late former President Muhammadu Buhari.
News Point Nigeria reports that the court held that the presidential pardon erased the legal consequences of the soldiers’ convictions, sentences and dismissals, thereby restoring their legal status and entitling them to return to military service.
The judgment, delivered on July 20 by Justice Sanda Yelwa, was contained in a statement made available to News Point Nigeria on Tuesday by Tayo Soyemi of Falana & Falana Chambers, solicitors to the claimants.
The suit, marked NICN/LA/54/2023, was instituted by the 70 soldiers against the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) after the military authorities allegedly failed to act on their request for reinstatement following the presidential pardon.
According to the statement, the claimants sought declarations that the presidential pardon nullified their convictions and dismissals, an order compelling their reinstatement, and the payment of outstanding salaries and allowances from December 17, 2014.
The soldiers were tried before various courts-martial in 2014 over offences bordering on conspiracy and mutiny.
Although they were initially sentenced to death, their sentences were later commuted to 10 years’ imprisonment.
After serving their prison terms, former President Buhari granted them an unconditional presidential pardon through the Instrument of Grant of Pardon, 2022, which was published in the Federal Republic of Nigeria Official Gazette dated July 29, 2022.
The statement further disclosed that the soldiers, through Falana & Falana Chambers, wrote to the Chief of Army Staff on November 7, 2022, requesting reinstatement and payment of their outstanding entitlements but received no response despite the acknowledgment of the letter.
Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Funmi Falana, who led Chukwuma Onwumene for the claimants, argued that the presidential pardon extinguished every legal consequence of the convictions, including the soldiers’ dismissal from service.
The Federal Government, represented by Omobolanle Aina, opposed the suit, arguing that while a presidential pardon forgives an offence and restores civil rights, it does not erase the historical fact of a conviction or automatically entitle a beneficiary to reinstatement.
According to the statement, the Chief of Army Staff neither entered an appearance nor filed any defence in the matter.
Delivering judgment, Justice Yelwa held that the official gazette constituted conclusive proof that all 70 claimants benefited from the presidential pardon and noted that the Nigerian Army failed to challenge the evidence or explain why the soldiers’ request for reinstatement had been ignored.
The judge ruled that the dismissals were direct consequences of the courts-martial convictions and could not survive the presidential pardon granted under Section 175 of the 1999 Constitution.
He further held that although reinstatement would require an administrative process by the Nigerian Army, the claimants had acquired an enforceable legal right to return to service because the constitutional barrier to their continued employment had been removed.
On the claim for outstanding salaries, the court declined to award arrears covering the period from December 17, 2014, to July 17, 2022, ruling that the soldiers were not entitled to salaries for periods during which they neither served nor performed official duties because they were serving prison terms.
Justice Yelwa also held that the instrument granting the presidential pardon did not provide for the retrospective payment of salaries.
The court subsequently ordered the immediate reinstatement of the 70 soldiers, effective from July 18, 2022, and directed the defendants to pay all salaries, allowances and other emoluments accruing from that date until their actual reinstatement.