The National Industrial Court in Abuja re-instated the Army General who was compelled to leave service in 2016.
In response to his reinstatement, retired Brigadier-General Abubakar Sa’ad stated why he sued the Nigerian Army, despite the fact that the army had internal systems in place to investigate officer complaints.
The Nigerian Army has been instructed to restore Sa’ad, who was forced into retirement in 2016 due to duty exigencies.
The court also ordered that he be given all of his rights from the time he was forced to resign until 2019, when his service in NA would have ended.
Sa’ad told reporters after the court decision that, despite the Army having internal organs that hear and investigate officer complaints, his case was not responded to or acknowledged.
When it became evident that the Nigeria Army and its leadership would not listen to him, he felt he had no choice but to go to court.
“Justice, they said, it does not matter how late. We have been on the case for five years, but finally, Justice has come and that is the fact, that my retirement was illegal, unconditional and it was done in bad faith.
“Let me just say that the military is one institution that recognizes the fact that a superior could be wrong and that is why within its internal processes, it has always made provisions for people who have been wrong to seek redress.
“So there is a provision for redress within the system. If a subordinate feels he has been wronged by his superior, what he needs to do is to write a redress to the next appropriate authority but then he has to channel it through his immediate Commander.
“So you see that military actually recognizes seeking for redress but if it is the system that has wronged an individual then that means you have to seek redress outside the system,” he said.
Sa’ad advised junior army officers to denounce any injustice done to them to the proper quarters and through the proper channels, but he also cautioned them to use the court as a last resort if they felt the system has failed them.
He claimed he sent President Muhammadu Buhari an appeal, citing various reasons why he was not the type of guy who would accept his illegal retirement and injustice.
He said that he had written letters to the Chief of Defence Staff claiming that he had been wrongfully retired before approaching the court.
He claimed that his letters had gone unnoticed. “After exhausting all internal avenues within the system, I went to court.”
“I am one senior officer who has always encouraged my subordinates, saying that if I am wrong, seek redress, nobody is perfect.
“It has been proven here that a system can be wrong.
“The Chief of Army Staff, Minister of Defense and Army Council went wrong in maliciously, illegally and wrongfully retiring me and that is what has been pronounced today.
“These things are actually good for the system because it protects the limits of systems and the evils that are done within the system,” he added.
