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Court Orders Nigerian Army To Reinstate 70 Soldiers Convicted Of Mutiny, Directs Payment Of Salaries From July 2022
Court Orders Nigerian Army To Reinstate 70 Soldiers Convicted Of Mutiny, Directs Payment Of Salaries From July 2022
NEWS
The Nigerian Record
7/28/20264 min read
The National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN), sitting in Lagos, has ordered the immediate reinstatement of 70 Nigerian Army personnel who were convicted by various courts-martial in 2014 but were later granted an unconditional presidential pardon by late former President Muhammadu Buhari.
In a landmark judgment delivered on July 20, 2026, Justice S.A. Yelwa held that the presidential pardon granted under Section 175 of the 1999 Constitution completely erased the soldiers' convictions, sentences, and dismissals from the Nigerian Army, restoring their legal status and entitling them to reinstatement.
The court also directed the Nigerian Army to pay the soldiers all salaries, allowances, and other emoluments accruing from July 18, 2022—the effective date of the presidential pardon—until the date of their actual reinstatement.
However, the court declined their request for salaries covering the period between December 17, 2014, and July 17, 2022, holding that they were not entitled to wages for the years they neither rendered military service nor performed official duties while serving prison terms.
The judgment followed a suit marked NICN/LA/54/2023, filed by the 70 soldiers against the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and the Chief of Army Staff after military authorities allegedly ignored repeated demands for their reinstatement despite the presidential pardon.
The soldiers, represented by Falana & Falana Chambers, had sought declarations that Buhari's presidential pardon completely extinguished the legal consequences of their convictions and dismissals, an order compelling their reinstatement into the Nigerian Army, and payment of all outstanding salaries and allowances dating back to December 17, 2014.
The claimants were among Nigerian Army personnel convicted by various courts-martial in 2014 over offences bordering on conspiracy and mutiny.
Although they were initially sentenced to death, the sentences were later commuted through an administrative review to ten years' imprisonment.
After serving their prison terms, former President Buhari exercised his constitutional prerogative of mercy under Section 175 of the Constitution by granting them an unconditional presidential pardon through the Instrument of Grant of Pardon, 2022, published in the Federal Republic of Nigeria Official Gazette No. 137, Volume 109, dated July 29, 2022.
Following the pardon, the soldiers, through Falana & Falana Chambers, wrote to the Chief of Army Staff on November 7, 2022, demanding their immediate reinstatement and payment of outstanding salaries and allowances.
Army Headquarters acknowledged receipt of the letter on November 9, 2022, but allegedly failed to respond, prompting the legal action before the National Industrial Court.
During the proceedings, senior lawyer Funmi Falana, SAN, leading Chukwuma Onwumene, argued that the unconditional presidential pardon extinguished every legal consequence flowing from the soldiers' convictions, including their dismissal from military service.
Relying on Section 175 of the Constitution and several Nigerian, English, and American judicial authorities, counsel argued that a full presidential pardon transforms beneficiaries into "new men" in the eyes of the law, restoring all rights and privileges lost as a result of criminal convictions.
The claimants maintained that since their dismissal arose directly from their convictions by courts-martial, the presidential pardon automatically destroyed the legal basis for those dismissals.
They therefore urged the court to compel the Nigerian Army to reinstate them and pay all salaries and allowances lost since December 2014.
The Attorney-General of the Federation, represented by Mrs. Omobolanle Aina, opposed the claims.
The Federal Government argued that although a presidential pardon forgives an offence and restores civil rights, it does not erase the historical fact that a conviction occurred.
Government counsel further argued that reinstatement into employment does not automatically follow a presidential pardon but depends on the applicable service rules governing the employer.
She also contended that the soldiers could not lawfully claim salaries for periods during which they neither worked nor rendered any service to the Nigerian Army.
However, the Chief of Army Staff neither entered an appearance nor filed any defence throughout the proceedings.
In his judgment, Justice Yelwa held that the documentary evidence before the court conclusively established that all 70 claimants were beneficiaries of the unconditional presidential pardon granted on July 18, 2022.
The judge ruled that the Official Gazette constituted conclusive legal proof of the pardon and noted that the Chief of Army Staff failed to challenge the claimants' evidence or explain why their request for reinstatement had been ignored.
Justice Yelwa rejected the Federal Government's argument that the soldiers' dismissals could continue to stand despite the presidential pardon.
According to the court, the dismissals were direct penal consequences of the courts-martial convictions and not independent administrative decisions.
The court held that once the President exercised his constitutional power of mercy under Section 175, the legal foundation upon which the dismissals rested ceased to exist.
Justice Yelwa further held that permitting the dismissals to remain effective despite the unconditional presidential pardon would amount to subordinating the President's constitutional powers to administrative decisions of military authorities.
Although reinstatement requires an administrative process within the Nigerian Army, the judge ruled that the soldiers had acquired an enforceable legal right to be restored to service because the constitutional impediment to their employment had been completely removed.
The court described the Nigerian Army's failure to act on the soldiers' demand for reinstatement as an administrative omission capable of judicial correction.
On the issue of salary arrears, however, Justice Yelwa refused the claimants' request for salaries and allowances covering the period between December 17, 2014, and July 17, 2022.
The judge held that while the presidential pardon erased the legal consequences of the convictions, it did not retrospectively create an entitlement to salaries for years during which the claimants were imprisoned and did not perform official military duties.
Justice Yelwa also observed that the Instrument of Grant of Pardon did not direct the payment of retrospective salaries and that the claimants failed to produce any contractual provision or condition of service establishing such entitlement.
The court therefore ruled that their entitlement to salaries and other emoluments could only commence from July 18, 2022, the effective date of the presidential pardon.
In its final orders, the National Industrial Court declared that the presidential pardon completely wiped out the soldiers' convictions, sentences, and dismissals from the Nigerian Army.
The court further declared that all 70 soldiers are legally entitled to reinstatement and consequently ordered the Chief of Army Staff to immediately reinstate them with effect from July 18, 2022.
Justice Yelwa also directed the Attorney-General of the Federation and the Chief of Army Staff to pay the claimants all salaries, allowances, and other emoluments accruing from July 18, 2022, until the date of their actual physical reinstatement.