The National Industrial Court (NIC) in Lagos has ordered the Nigerian Army to immediately reinstate 70 soldiers who were convicted by courts-martial in 2014 but later received an unconditional presidential pardon from the late former President Muhammadu Buhari, ruling that the pardon restored their legal status and entitled them to return to service.

In a judgment delivered on July 20, Justice Sanda Yelwa held that the unconditional pardon granted under Section 175 of the 1999 Constitution extinguished the soldiers’ convictions, sentences and dismissals, thereby removing every legal barrier to their reinstatement.

Details of the judgment were disclosed in a statement issued on Monday 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 despite the presidential pardon.

The claimants had asked the court to declare that the pardon nullified their convictions and dismissals, compel the Nigerian Army to reinstate them, and order the payment of all outstanding salaries and allowances from December 17, 2014.

The soldiers were tried before various courts-martial in 2014 on charges bordering on conspiracy and mutiny. They were initially sentenced to death, but their sentences were later commuted to 10 years’ imprisonment.

After completing 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 on July 29, 2022.

According to the statement, 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. Although the letter was acknowledged, the Army did not respond, prompting the legal action.

Counsel to the claimants, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Funmi Falana, alongside Chukwuma Onwumene, argued that the presidential pardon erased every legal consequence of the convictions, including the soldiers’ dismissal from the Nigerian Army.

However, the Federal Government, represented by Omobolanle Aina, opposed the suit, contending that while a presidential pardon forgives an offence and restores civil rights, it neither erases the historical fact of a conviction nor automatically entitles a beneficiary to reinstatement.

The statement further noted that the Chief of Army Staff neither entered an appearance nor filed a defence in the matter.

In his judgment, Justice Yelwa ruled that the official gazette constituted conclusive evidence that all 70 claimants were beneficiaries of the presidential pardon. He observed that the Nigerian Army failed to challenge the evidence or explain why the soldiers’ request for reinstatement had been ignored.

The court held that the soldiers’ dismissals were direct consequences of their courts-martial convictions and could not survive the presidential pardon.

Justice Yelwa further ruled that although reinstatement would require an administrative process by the Nigerian Army, the constitutional obstacle to the claimants’ continued employment had been removed, giving them an enforceable legal right to return to service.

On the issue of salary arrears, the court declined to award salaries and allowances covering the period between December 17, 2014, and July 17, 2022, holding that the soldiers were not entitled to remuneration for periods during which they neither served nor performed official duties because they were serving prison sentences.

The judge also held that the Instrument of Grant of Pardon did not provide for retrospective payment of salaries.

Consequently, the court ordered the immediate reinstatement of the 70 soldiers with effect from July 18, 2022, and directed the defendants to pay all salaries, allowances and other emoluments accruing from that date until their actual reinstatement. (Arise News)