The National Industrial Court has granted permission that a contempt of court charge be filled against the Chief of Defence Staff, General Gabriel Abayomi Olonisakin, over the alleged refusal to comply with a valid order of the court.
Olonisakin may be committed to two years imprisonment on the order of the court if found guilty of the contempt charge.
The leave to file the contempt charge against the CDS was granted to Lieutenant Colonel Abdulfatai Mohammed by Justice Sanusi Kado in Abuja, following refusal to reabsorb him back into the Nigerian Army as ordered by the court two years ago.
The industrial court had in a judgment by Justice Edith Agbakogba ordered Olonisakin to convey the court order in writing to President Muhammadu Buhari for the review of the unlawful premature retirement of Mohammed.
Justice Agbakogba, in the order, directed that proof of the transmission of the court order to President Buhari must be provided to the Registrar of the court.
Mohammed was among the 38 senior officers, now referred to as Army 38, who were in June 2016 unlawfully retired by Army authorities in flagrant disregard to the rules of engagement in the military.
The purported premature retirement of the Army Officer was however voided and set aside by court on the ground that it ran foul of the law because the plaintiff was neither indicted for any offence nor issued with query or faced any panel or court marshal before he was kicked out of the Army.
Justice Agbakogba held that Mohammed was denied fair hearing by the Army as required by law and therefore ordered that the CDS presents the case of the retired Army Chief to President Buhari for a review.
Mohammed was a Commending Officer in the North East Theatre of Operations at the time he was unlawfully and illegally kicked out of the Army.
However, since the appeal for a review of the retirement was presented to Olonisakin, he was alleged not to have taken any concrete step to transmit the court order to President Buhari.
His lawyer, Abdul Muhammed, had argued that the “development is particularly unfortunate considering that this officer was a Commanding Officer in the North East theatre of operation risking his life for his country but his Commander-in-Chief and nation failed him by never responding to his cry whether for good or bad”.
Muhammed noted that the “Harmonised Terms and Conditions of Service for Officers (THACOS) provided a right of review and that some members of the Army 38 had submitted letters for review through the Chief of Defence Staff, but had received no proof that those appeals were indeed transmitted to the President for his mature consideration”.
To this end, the order, which was made over two years ago by Agbakoba and the recent order by Kado, have paved the way for the issuance of summons to be served personally on the Chief of Defence Staff in initiation of committal proceedings to compel the compliance with the lawful order of court of competent jurisdiction.
