The National Industrial Court has ordered the Nigerian Army to reinstate 70 soldiers pardoned by former President Muhammadu Buhari and pay their salaries and allowances from July 18, 2022, until their reinstatement.
The National Industrial Court (NIC) in Lagos has ordered the Nigerian Army to 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, ruling that the pardon wiped out their convictions, sentences, and dismissals.
The judgement was delivered on July 20 by presiding judge Sanda Yelwa and was contained in a statement issued on Monday by Tayo Soyemi of Falana and Falana Chambers, solicitors to the claimants.
What the court decided and why
Yelwa held that the unconditional pardon granted under Section 175 of the 1999 Constitution extinguished every legal consequence of the soldiers’ convictions, including their dismissal from service, and restored their legal status, entitling them to reinstatement.
The judge ruled that the soldiers’ dismissals were direct consequences of their courts-martial convictions and could not survive the presidential pardon. He 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 employment had been removed.
The court ordered the immediate reinstatement of the 70 soldiers, effective July 18, 2022, and directed the defendants to pay all salaries, allowances and other emoluments accruing from that date until their actual reinstatement.
Salaries denied for imprisonment period, granted from pardon date
On the claim for salary arrears dating back to December 17, 2014, the court declined to award payment covering the period from that date to July 17, 2022, holding that the soldiers were not entitled to salaries for periods during which they neither served nor performed official duties because they were imprisoned.
Yelwa also held that the instrument granting the pardon did not provide for the retrospective payment of salaries.
How the soldiers ended up in court
The suit, marked NICN/LA/54/2023, was filed 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.
The soldiers were tried before various courts-martial in 2014 over offences bordering on conspiracy and mutiny. Although initially sentenced to death, their sentences were later commuted to 10 years’ imprisonment. After serving their prison terms, Buhari granted them an unconditional presidential pardon through the Instrument of Grant of Pardon, 2022, published in the Federal Republic of Nigeria Official Gazette dated July 29, 2022.
Through Falana and Falana Chambers, the soldiers wrote to the COAS on November 7, 2022, requesting reinstatement and payment of outstanding entitlements, but received no response despite an acknowledgement of their letter.
Arguments from both sides
Funmi Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), led Chukwuma Onwumene for the claimants, arguing 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.
The COAS neither entered an appearance nor filed a defence in the case. The judge found that the army failed to challenge the evidence or explain why the request for reinstatement was ignored, and held that the official gazette constituted conclusive proof that all 70 claimants benefited from the presidential pardon.
The claimants had sought declarations that the pardon nullified their convictions and dismissals, an order compelling their reinstatement, and payment of outstanding salaries and allowances from December 17, 2014.
