The National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN), Lagos Division, has ordered the immediate reinstatement of 70 Nigerian Army personnel who were convicted by courts-martial in 2014 but later granted an unconditional presidential pardon by former President Muhammadu Buhari. In a judgment delivered on July 20, 2026, Justice S.A. Yelwa held that the presidential pardon, granted under Section 175 of the 1999 Constitution, extinguished the legal consequences of the soldiers’ convictions, sentences and dismissals from service, thereby restoring their legal status and entitling them to reinstatement.
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) after the military authorities allegedly failed to act on their request for reinstatement following the 2022 presidential pardon. The claimants, represented by Falana & Falana Chambers, sought declarations that the pardon nullified their convictions and dismissals, an order compelling their reinstatement into the Nigerian Army, and payment of outstanding salaries and allowances from December 17, 2014. The soldiers were among Army personnel convicted by various courts-martial in 2014 on charges including conspiracy and mutiny.
They were initially sentenced to death, but their sentences were later commuted to 10 years’ imprisonment. After serving their prison terms, they were granted an unconditional presidential pardon by former President Buhari through the Instrument of Grant of Pardon, 2022, published in the Federal Republic of Nigeria Official Gazette on July 29, 2022. Following the pardon, the soldiers, through their lawyers, wrote to the Chief of Army Staff on November 7, 2022, seeking reinstatement and payment of outstanding salaries and allowances.
Although the Army Headquarters acknowledged receipt of the letter, the claimants said no action was taken, prompting the court action. Counsel to the claimants, Funmi Falana, SAN, leading Chukwuma Onwumene, argued that the presidential pardon completely erased every legal consequence of the convictions, including the soldiers’ dismissal from service. The legal team maintained that since the dismissals were directly linked to the courts-martial convictions, the pardon automatically removed the legal basis for their removal from the Nigerian Army.
Summary from source