Reinstated officers, army disagree over voluntary retirement plan

The officers of the Nigerian Army who were allegedly illegally dismissed have rejected Army authorities’ request to convert their dismissal to voluntary retirement.

This followed the rejection of the submission by one of the officers, Col. Dalladi Ribah Hassan who appeared before the House Committee on Public Petitions at its sitting today.

2023 budget: Senators fault rising recurrent expenditure

Alleged N7.9bn fraud: Ex-aviation minister, Oduah to be re-arraigned

He was among nine officers, among them Major Generals, 11 Brigadier Generals, Seven colonels, and 11 Lieutenant Colonels who were compulsorily retired by the Army authorities in 2016.

Col. Hassan insisted that the ruling of the Appeal Court which directed the Army authorities to reinstate him and others should be respected and abided by.

The Army had in a submission presented to the Committee by Major P.C Obinyan, dated October 7th, 2022 addressed to the chairman of the Committee, Jerry Alagbaoso stated that the army has done the needful by allowing the petitioner to retain his substantive rank of Colonel, Gratuity, Pension, Certificate of Military Service and Retired officers’ Identity Card.

 It added, “The Petitioner’s additional request for his reinstatement into 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 Harmonised Terms and Conditions of Service Officer 2021 particularly Chapter 1 Paragraph 01.04 (I).

 “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, the 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”.

However, Col. Hassan insisted on the earlier judgment by the Court saying that it is still subsisting and the Army authorities should respect it.

However, the Chairman of the Committee advised the Colonel and his colleagues to study the document submitted by the Army authorities and decide on the next line of action during the next sitting on the matter.