Supreme Court hears ex-army officer’s appeal in 2020
The Supreme Court on Monday adjourned an appeal filed by retired Major Ekundayo Awoyomi, who is seeking to be reinstated into the Nigerian Army to September 21, 2020 for hearing.
Maj. Awoyomi was said to have been summarily and unlawfully retired from the Nigerian Army in 1990 without a prior retirement notice.
When the matter came up for hearing on Monday before the Supreme Court, Maj. Awoyomi informed the court that his lawyer is indisposed and therefore, requested for a short adjournment.
The respondents, the chief of army staff, Federal Ministry of Defence, Zenith Bank and the attorney general of the federation did not oppose the application for adjournment.
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Consequently, the presiding justice of the panel, Justice Musa Dattijo Muhammad adjourned the matter to September 21, 2020 for hearing.
According to court records, on December 13, 2006, Justice Abdu Kafarati of the Federal High Court ruled that Maj. Awoyomi’s retirement was defective and ordered that he be paid his salaries, allowances and all other benefits from the date of his purported retirement – that is 1990 to date.
The judge clarified that the date of the judgment should be taken into consideration as having formed part of his service years.
The Nigerian Army was dissatisfied with the ruling and appealed the judgement, but lost at the Court of Appeal. Still dissatisfied, it lodged the appeal at the Supreme Court.
Maj. Awoyomi told journalists after the Supreme Court session yesterday, that the army has been unfair to him, adding that after the Federal High Court judgment, the army jettisoned their lawyers from the office of attorney general who represented them and engaged a private legal practitioner who also lost at the Court of Appeal.
He said that despite the fact that the army has admitted their errors on his unlawful retirement and has issued a fresh retirement letter in 2017, the army authorities have not deem it fit to correctly calculate his retirement benefits none place him on pension.
