Reuben Buhari
5 November 2009
Kaduna — An Army officer, Lt. Colonel Silas Jock Santoi, of the Training and Doctrine Command of the Nigeria Army has dragged President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua and three others to court, over unfair treatment.
Jock, still an army officer, who has been having a running battle with the Nigerian Army since he was recommended for a United Nation posting after completing a Post Graduate Diploma (PGD) programme in Strategic Studies at the University of Maiduguri in 2001 is presently in court asking President Yar'Adua to compel the Nigeria Army to set up a commission of enquiry to uncover the truth in his case.
His case started when he finished the PGD and was supposed to proceed on a United Nation assignment based on the recommendation of the Chief Of Army Staff (COAS) but was denied it by some of his superior officer's on the ground that he went to school without the approvalof the army.
The officers allegedly wrote to the COAS, saying he(Jock) went to school without permission and hence should not be allowed to go on posting.
Jock wrote back to the Chief of Army Staff, intimating him of the issue and also attached the approval of the army for him to undertake the PGD at the University of Maiduguri, after which the COAS ordered an army officer to interview him.
He was interviewed and cleared but the officers allegedly refused toimplement the recommendation of the COAS and stopped his salary andother entitlements.
He then took the matter before the National Assembly after which theNational Assembly advised the Nigeria Army to compassionately take another look at his case. From there, after some years with out any thing done to his case, he decided to institute a case at theKaduna High Court in Kaduna and then instituted another at the Federal High court Abuja later.The present suit which is before the Federal High court Abuja with reference number FHC/ABJ/CS/581/09 before Justice Kolawole of Court 4 is seeking among others, fair hearing in any of his matter before theFederal High Court.
He is also asking for an order compelling the minister of justice toinvestigate the failure of the former Chief Judge of the Federal HighCourt, Justice Abdullahi Mustapha to honour the directive of theNational Judicial Council to personally handle his matter.Lt. Colonel Jock is also asking the court to compel the Minister ofDefence to make the Nigerian Army to upgrade him to the rank of aBrigadier-General and accord him all the attendant benefits beingenjoy by his contemporaries as he has not been promoted since hestarted the court case. He requested the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court to personallyhandle his case against the president and three others in the interestof justice. He justifies his request on the basis of the failure ofthree Federal High Court judges to conclude his case against theNigeria army since 2004.
The plaintiff said since three other judges of the high court hadfailed in handling the other suits he instituted; his hope lies withthe present Chief Judge to conclude his case."Having gone through three different judges at the High Court withoutthe matter being resolved, I feel it is only the Chief Judge who candetermine this present suit," he said, adding that in the other suits,the Chief Judge, in spite of an express directive from the NationalJudicial Council, the Chief Judge still went t ahead to assigned thecase to another judge."Since the Chief Judge fails to conclude the case against the NigeriaArmy on the allegations of interference from the presidency, it isonly the Chief Fudge of the federal High court, Justice Daniel Abutuwho can do justice to this case."I applied to the deputy chief registrar on October 9, 2009 on thesame matter after properly filling it before the high court butsurprisingly, it was still assigned against my request to court 4,before Hon. Justice Kolawole," he concludes.
Meanwhile, Lt Col. Jock's application for a mandamus to compel theNigeria Army to restore the payment of his salary and otherentitlements that was stopped since 2004 which is before the FederalHigh Court, Kaduna division came up for mention yesterday.Justice Ajoku of High Court 2 presided over the matter during whichthe matter was adjourned to November 12 for further hearing because,according to the plaintiff, has not been able to get a lawyer thatwill handle his case as most of the lawyers dropped the case aftersometime, alleging that higher interest have warned them to stay awayfrom the case.In the last four years, since the legal battle began, JocK has gonethrough three judges and 10 law firms, but is yet to get justice,hence the petition he wrote to the National Judicial Council.Later, when it was not possible to get any lawyer that will handle hiscase, jock complained to the president of the Public ComplainCommission, saying that no lawyer in Kaduna State wants to handle hiscase. The PCC promised to help him and later got in touch with thechamber of Late Gani Fawehinmi who immediately took up the case.Gani's chamber on Monday, October 22
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2009 This Day. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
