Court orders Army to reinstate 70 soldiers pardoned by Buhari

The National Industrial Court (NIC) in Lagos has ordered the Nigerian Army to reinstate 70 soldiers who were convicted by courts-martial in 2014 and later granted presidential pardon by former President Muhammadu Buhari.

In a judgment delivered on July 20, 2026, Justice Sanda Yelwa held that the unconditional pardon granted to the soldiers under Section 175 of the 1999 Constitution extinguished their convictions, sentences and dismissals, thereby restoring their legal status and making them eligible for reinstatement.

The judgment was contained in a statement issued on Monday by Tayo Soyemi of Falana & Falana Chambers, counsel to the claimants.

The suit, marked NICN/LA/54/2023, was filed by the 70 soldiers against the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), following the alleged failure of the military authorities to act on their request for reinstatement after the presidential pardon.

The soldiers had asked the court to declare that the pardon nullified their convictions and dismissals, order their reinstatement, and direct the payment of their outstanding salaries and allowances from December 17, 2014.

The claimants were tried before various courts-martial in 2014 over offences bordering on conspiracy and mutiny. They were initially sentenced to death, but the sentences were later commuted to 10 years’ imprisonment.

After serving their prison terms, Buhari granted them unconditional presidential pardon through the Instrument of Grant of Pardon, 2022, published in the Federal Republic of Nigeria Official Gazette dated July 29, 2022.

According to the statement, the soldiers, through Falana & Falana Chambers, wrote to the COAS on November 7, 2022, requesting their reinstatement and payment of outstanding entitlements. The letter was acknowledged but no response was received.

Funmi Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), who led Chukwuma Onwumene for the claimants, argued that the presidential pardon extinguished all legal consequences of the convictions, including the soldiers’ dismissal from service.

However, the Federal Government, represented by Omobolanle Aina, opposed the suit, arguing that although a presidential pardon forgives an offence and restores civil rights, it does not erase the historical fact of a conviction or automatically confer a right to reinstatement.

The statement added that the COAS neither entered an appearance nor filed a defence in the case.

In his judgment, Justice Yelwa held that the official gazette provided conclusive evidence that all 70 claimants benefited from the presidential pardon. He also found that the Army failed to challenge the evidence presented by the soldiers or explain why their request for reinstatement was ignored.

The judge ruled that the soldiers’ dismissals were direct consequences of their courts-martial convictions and could not survive the presidential pardon.

He, however, noted that reinstatement would require an administrative process by the Nigerian Army, but held that the claimants had acquired an enforceable legal right to return to service because the constitutional barrier to their employment had been removed.

On the claim for salary arrears, the court declined to award payments covering the period from December 17, 2014, to July 17, 2022.

The court held that the soldiers were not entitled to salaries for the period during which they neither served nor performed official duties because they were imprisoned. Justice Yelwa also held that the instrument granting the pardon did not provide for the retrospective payment of salaries.

The court subsequently ordered the immediate reinstatement of the 70 soldiers, effective July 18, 2022, and directed the defendants to pay all salaries, allowances and other emoluments accruing from that date until their actual reinstatement.