With the advent of democracy in 1999, expectations were high that unlike in the military era, respect would be accorded to decisions of the court.
The flagrant disobedience of court orders by the federal government has since dampened these hopes as the federal government, its agencies, and agents particularly the military continue to treat orders of court with contempt.
A three-member panel of the Court of Appeal in 2021 upheld the judgement of an Abuja National Industrial Court which ordered the reinstatement of army Colonel, Danladi Hassan into the army.
When the army refused to comply with the order, Colonel Hassan petitioned the House of Representatives urging it to compel the army to reinstate him and pay his entitlements.
The Nigerian Army however insists that it will not honour the orders to reinstate Hassan who was sacked in 2016. In a letter to the House of Representatives Committee on Public Petitions dated 7 October 2022, the army also said it will not pay the complainant his legal fees, salaries, and allowances as directed by the court.
The army in a letter signed by its Director of Legal Services, MU Wambai on behalf of the chief of army staff, disclosed that the Appeal Court failed to factor in the peculiarities of military conditions of service in delivering its judgement.
Hassan, who led troops to recapture Bulabulin and Damboa from Boko Haram in 2014, was compulsorily retired in 2016. He was retired alongside 37 other officers. Following his forceful retirement, he approached the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) which in January 2019 ordered his reabsorption into the army.
Hon. Justice Sanusi Kado who tried the matter held that the army failed to convince the court of the disciplinary grounds for the forceful retirement. The army appealed and the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal for lacking in merit.
According to the letter signed by Major General Wambai, the petitioner had already exceeded the age for his rank and can no longer be reinstated.
“In the light of the above, it is the position of the NA that the Appellate Court did not appreciate the peculiarity of the Military Service while passing its judgment when it ordered for the reinstatement of the Petitioner into the NA.
“This is because the Officer’s Military Services was regulated by provisions of the then Harmonized Terms and Conditions of Service Officers 2012, particularly as it relates to Age Ceiling on a particular rank. The Petitioner who was a Colonel until his retirement in June 2016 is no longer promotable as a result of Age Ceiling and as such makes it difficult to reinstate him,” he said.
On the payments of salaries and allowances, the army said he did not work for that period and cannot be paid but that it has magnanimously granted the petitioner the privilege of retiring with his rank, pension, gratuity, certificate of service, and identity card.
“Also, the Petitioner’s request for payment of salaries and allowances over the period he was out of service and when it is clear to him that he did not work for the period will amount to cheating on the Nigerian Army in particular and the Government of the Federation in general.
“The NA. reiterates that it has done the needful by magnanimously granting the Petitioner the privilege to retain his substantive rank of Colonel, Gratuity, Pension, Certificate of Military Service and Retired Officer’s Identity Card.
“The Petitioner’s additional request for his reinstatement into the 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 Harmonized Terms and Conditions of Service Officer 2012, particularly Chapter 1 Paragraph 01.04 (0), Military Service of an officer is a period of unbroken Service in the Nigerian Armed Forces from the date of commissioning to the date of retirement from Service except for Executive Commission/Special Duty/Branch Commission Officers whose Military Service commences from enlistment.
“Also, with the chain of Service being broken, it will not be in the interest of the NA and public security to reinstate him to Military Service.
“Additionally, Military Service is a Service which ensures that discipline is sustained through regimentation. 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 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,” he said.”
Colonel Hassan’s 37 colleagues that were equally compulsorily retired in 2016 got judgements for their reinstatements but they were disregarded
During an occasion, Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association Section on Public Interest and Development Law, NBA-SPIDEL, Dr. Monday Ubani said disobedience to court judgments by the federal government, is a dent on democracy.
In his words: “Every government in Nigeria has always disobeyed court orders and trampled upon the rule of law with impunity. Our thinking was that Buhari’s government that promised change would have been different but that is not the situation.
“The present government has surpassed previous governments in disobeying Court orders and trampling on the rule of law. We have lost count in the number of court orders they have disobeyed. In disobeying court orders, the present government does not do itself any good as the records are there for future use and will remain a permanent dent to those who operated our democracy within the time in question. They still have enough time to change their behaviour and cleanse the negative image they have created for themselves in their penchant for disobeying court orders.”
Decades ago in Ibrahim & Ors v. Emein (1996)2 NWLR (pt. 430) 322 Hon. Justice Tanko Muhammad, JCA as he then was, held that:
“If for any reason the executive arm of government refuses to comply with court orders, I am afraid that arm is promoting anarchy and executive indiscipline capable of wrecking the organic framework of the society. The corporate existence of Nigeria, it must be admitted, postulates the principle of cooperation between the three arms of government (Executive, Legislative, and Judiciary). Where these work together in the same framework, then the rule of law shall prevail in that society. But where each selects to work in isolation and/or in utter disdain of the other, then havoc wrecks the society. thus by this unique position, each knowing the limits of its powers and not to attempt to enter brusquely into the preserve of the other or ride roughshod of the powers of the other, then their rule of law has achieved its purpose which is ensuring respect for the law.”
