ECOWAS Court Orders Nigeria To Pay 244 Soldiers Dismissed In 2016

The ECOWAS Court of Justice,  has ordered the Federal Government of Nigeria to pay the salaries and allowances of 244 soldiers dismissed in 2016.

A statement issued by the court on Friday said that the order was given in a Judgment issued by a panel of three justices of the court on Thursday.

The court had earlier ruled in May 2019,  that the process by which the soldiers were dismissed violated their right to work and fair hearing.

Delivering a supplementary judgment to its ruling of May 15, 2019, the court ordered the government to pay all arrears of monthly allowances and salaries and other entitlements of the Applicants up to January 2016.

In the judgment which was delivered by Justice Keikura Bangura, the judge rapporteur, the court said it came to the decision,, haven  heard the parties, considered the documents and reviewed its earlier judgment.

He held that:

“The judgment of the Court ECW/CCJ/JUD/21/19 delivered on 15th May 2019 is hereby supplemented with an additional paragraph no (vi).”

The court however rejected the request of the soldiers for an order directing the government to reinstate them as ‘the court did not omit to give a decision on reinstatement of the applicants in the original judgment.”

In the supplementary application lodged before the court on June 14, 2019, the applicants had asked the court for an order,  mandating the respondent to immediately reinstate them, including to their respective ranks, haven found that their dismissal without arraignment, prosecution and sentence by a duly constituted Court Martial was illegal, null and void.

They also asked the court for an order directing the respondent to pay their monthly salaries and other allowances from the whole of 2015 and such other months until the date the judgment was enforced.

Also on the thre-member panel for the case are Justices Gberi-Be Ouattara (presiding) and Dupe Atoki.