The Abuja Court of Appeal on Friday upheld a court ruling reinstating a mandatory retired colonel along with 37 army officers in 2016.
A three-man panel of the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal filed against the lower court’s judgment by Army authorities.
The Abuja National Industrial Court, in its ruling on January 9, 2019, ordered the reinstatement of Danladi Hassan, a colonel, who illegally retired on a mandatory basis along with 37 other people in 2016.
According to PR Nigeria, the first instance judge, Sanusi Kado of the National Industrial Court, had held that the Nigerian army failed to convince the court of the disciplinary grounds for the plaintiff’s mandatory retirement.
Declared null and void the mandatory retirement letter.
Rather than comply with the verdict of the industrial court, the Army authorities, which include the Nigerian Army itself, the Nigerian Army Council, the Army Chief of Staff, the Council of the Armed Forces and others, opted for appeal the decision.
But, dismissing the appeal and affirming the industrial court’s decision on Friday, Stephen Adah, who read the main ruling of the three-man panel of the Court of Appeals, held that the appellants’ case was without merit.
PR Nigeria reports that the Court of Appeal held that the appellants failed to substantiate their claim that the lower court’s verdict was perverse. The findings of the Court of Appeal showed that the lower court’s decision was based on the evidence presented before it by the parties, Adah said.
The court also dismissed the appellants’ technical argument that Mr. Hassan’s case before the lower court was incompetent. It argued that, contrary to the complainants’ assertion, Mr. Hassan fulfilled the precedent condition required by Section 178 of the Armed Forces Act, before going to court.
“The court of first instance examined in detail all the facts, both of the accusers, as well as of the accused and his witnesses, before reaching the conclusion that the exercise of compulsory retirement was committed by mistake.
“It was in that sense that the court now ruled that the plaintiff’s mandatory retirement was declared null and void; The mandatory retirement letter was also annulled and his reinstatement was ordered and a letter to that effect was issued, reinstating him into the Nigerian Army with all rights and privileges.
“There is no evidence that is contrary to what the court has said. So there is nothing that is perverse by the lower court’s findings, ”PR Nigeria quoted Mr. Adah as saying on Friday.
The Court of Appeal added that an appeal court would not interfere with the lower court’s conclusions when the lower court has made correct and direct conclusions of the facts. “
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“The trial court did excellently well in this case, and we have no need to interfere with the court’s findings.
“It is in this sense that we conclude that this appeal is without merit. It is manifestly without merit and is hereby dismissed.
“The lower court’s decision is upheld and all decisions made in it also stand,” Adah added.
The Court of Appeals ruling came about three weeks after the National Court of Industry ordered the reinstatement of ASH Sa’ad, a brigadier general, who was one of 38 officers unjustly dismissed by Army authorities in 2016 .
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PREMIUM TIMES had reported how Messrs. Saad and Hassan, along with 36 others, were forced to leave duty without resorting to the Nigerian army’s separation rules.
Most of the affected officers were not questioned or prosecuted by any panel, but were expelled for reasons that smack of high-level arbitrariness and witch-hunts by military authorities.
The officers subsequently applied to President Muhammadu Buhari for redress, in accordance with military regulations.
But even after petitioning the president two years later, their fates are still at stake.
Buhari has refused to respond to their requests, raising suspicions that the president was an accessory to the illegality that defined the firing of the officers.
PR Nigeria reports that on August 6, 2014, the 25th Task Force Brigade led by Mr. Hassan carried out a special operation and recaptured the cities of Bulabulin and Damboa previously taken from the hands of Boko Haram terrorists.
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Mr. Hassan, according to the news platform, was the garrison commander of the 7th Division responsible for the security of Maiduguri and its surroundings before he was ordered to lead the operation.