Danladi Hassan, one of the 38 army officers arbitrarily sacked, has sought the intervention of the defence minister, Bashir Magashi, after the Nigerian Army refused to obey the court injunction ordering his reinstatement.
Mr Hassan and 37 other senior officers were forced to retire by the army in June 2016. The mass dismissal affected nine major generals, 11 brigadier generals, seven colonels and 11 lieutenant colonels. However, PREMIUM TIMES’ investigations showed the authorities acted illegally, and the National Industrial Court has ordered the reinstatement of Mr Hassan and many others.
On 28 June this year, Mr Hassan’s solicitors submitted a letter on his behalf to Mr Magashi’s office, urging him to prevail on the army to obey the court orders that declared the retirement of their client illegal.
The solicitors reminded Mr Magashi that on 25 January, 2022, they had forwarded the judgement of the National Industrial Court that set aside the compulsory retirement of Mr Hassan.
“Unfortunately, since the receipt of our letter in January 2022, and the Army Council meeting in March 2022, our client is yet to be reinstated by the Nigerian Army in compliance with the judgement of the court of Appeal, the final arbiter in a matter such as this,” the letter read in part.
The letter noted that Mr Hassan has been subjected to extreme hardship, emotional and psychological trauma for a period of not less than six years and still counting “in disregard of a subsisting and valid judgement of the National Industrial Court, affirmed by the Court of Appeal ordering our client’s reinstatement and payment of his salaries and allowances.”
In 2018, the army first suffered a defeat at the Abuja National Industrial Court in a suit filed by Mr Hassan seeking N1 billion as damages to void his compulsory retirement.
The court would later vindicate the colonel in 2019 after nullifying Mr Hassan’s untimely retirement by the army. The trial judge, Sanusi Kado, had ruled that the Nigerian army failed to convince the court about the disciplinary grounds for the compulsory retirement of Mr Hassan.
The army authorities including, the Nigerian Army Council, the Chief of Army Staff, and the Armed Forces Council, decided to appeal against the decision of the Industrial Court.
Credit: premiumtimesng.com
