By Abraham Olatunbosun
Officers of the Nigerian Army compulsorily retired by the authorities in 2016 have rejected an offer to convert their “illegal” disengagement to voluntary retirement.
PRNigeria reported how 38 officers were compulsorily disengaged from the Nigerian Army in 2016 via announcement in the media even before they were eventually informed by text messages of their retirement.
One of the officers, Colonel Danladi Ribah Hassan, who appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on Public Petitions insisted that the army authorities should obey the order by the Court of Appeal to re-instate him with full benefits.
Colonel Danladi Ribah Hassan, Colonel Mohammed Suleiman, Colonel Chidi Ukoha, Lieutenant Colonel Abdulfatai Mohammed and other officers were compulsory retired by the Army authorities in 2016.
The affected officers were; 9 Major Generals, 11 Brigadier Generals, 7 Colonels and 11 Lieutenant Colonels.
Following a suit based on his petition, the National Industrial Court sitting in Abuja in 2019 ordered that, the Nigerian Army should reinstate Colonel Danladi Hassan.
The ruling was later upheld by the Appeal Court for affirming that, the officer should be reinstated.
However, the army authorities have failed to re-instate the compulsorily retired officers based on the Industrial and Appeal Court’s rulings.
This prompted the officers to petition the House of Representatives Committee on Public Petitions to wade into the matter.
Chairman of the Committee, Jerry Alagbaoso, later wrote to the army authorities demanding their appearance before the committee.
At its sitting last week, the army authorities were directed to put their position in writing and present to the Committee on Tuesday, October 11 which they did at the resumed hearing.
A letter with reference number HQ DLS/A/GI/300/56 dated October 7th, 2022 addressed to the chairman of the Committee, Jerry Alagbaoso, was presented to the Committee by Major P.C Obinyan on Tuesday, October 11,2022.
The letter stated that, the Nigerian army recommended that the petitioner should retain his substantive rank of Colonel and offer Gratuity, Pension, Certificate of Military Service and a Retired officers’ Identity Card.
It added, “The Petitioner’s additional request for his reinstatement into NA and payment of all his salaries and allowances for the period he did not work is difficult because of the peculiarity of Military Service, under the Harmonised Terms and Conditions of Service Officer 2021 particularly Chapter 1 Paragraph 01.04 (I).
“Therefore bringing the Petitioner back to Service as a Colonel when his juniors are already on the rank of General will affect Military discipline as he will not be 100%loyal to his superiors who were formally his juniors; thereby, the same having a negative effect on the Military command and control.
“In view of the above, it is in the interest of justice that, the NA recommends for the Petitioner to write to the Army Council to convert his compulsory retirement to Voluntary retirement”.
After the presentation by the Army Major, Colonel Hassan maintained his stance saying that, the army authorities should respect the subsisting judgement of the Appeal Court for reinstatement.
However, Chairman of the Committee advised the Colonel to study the document submitted by the Army authorities and decide on what to do next.
He said, ” I want you to study what the army presented. Do you have a copy of this? I want you to have a copy and look at it”.
The chairman ordered for a copy to be given to the Colonel for him to take home and study what the army authorities have proposed.
He later adjourned the case sine die to give the officers enough time to go through the document and contact the Committee which will decide on a date to meet on the matter for a final decision.
PRNigeria reports that the list of the unjustly retired officers included Maj Gen MY Ibrahim, Maj Gen SD Aliyu, Maj Gen FO Alli, Maj Gen IN Ijioma, Maj Gen Ejemai, Maj Gen LC Ilo, Maj Gen Ude, Maj Gen EJ Atewe and Maj Gen LI Wiwa.
The Brigadier Generals are Brig Gen LM Bello, Brig Gen ASH Saad, Brig Gen Mormoni-Bashir, Brig Gen DM Onovieta, Brig Gen B Fibuonuma, Brig Gen Koko-Essien, Brig Gen IM Lawson, Brig Gen AI Onibasa, Brig Gen D Abdulsalam and Brig Gen Aghachi.
The Colonels are Col DR Hassan, Col MA Suleiman, Col FD Kayode, Col TT Minimah, Col FE Ekpenyong, Col OU Nwankwo and Col CK Ukoha.
The Lieutenant Colonel are: Lt Col TO Oladuntoye, Lt Col CO Amadi, Lt Col OA Baba-Ochankpa, Lt Col E Egemole, Lt Col KO Adimoha, Lt Col DB Dazang, Lt Col T Arigbe, Lt Col Enemchukwu, Lt Col GC Nyekwu, Lt Col A Mohammed, Lt Col AS Mohammed and Major TA Williams
