From Sola Ojo, Kaduna
Parents of nine cadets of 67 Regular Course who were ‘unlawfully’ dismissed by the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) on Tuesday urged President Bola Tinubu to compel the concerned authorities to obey a Federal High Court judgment which went in favour of the dismissed cadets.
The Presiding Judge of a Federal High Court sitting in Kaduna, Justice Muhammad Umar had on May 18, ordered NDA to reinstate the nine cadets unlawfully dismissed by the academy authorities after their presidential commissioning on October 5, 2019, award them their degrees and pay all their financial entitlements to date.
Addressing newsmen in Kaduna, the Spokesman for the parents of the affected nine cadets, Muhammed Ibrahim Daura expressed concern over the grave silence on the development by the Nigerian Army weeks after the judgment.
“We are appealing to our new President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu and other authorities concerned to look into this judgment and respect the court directive without further delay as compliance to his promise to respect the rule of law.
“We also appeal to the Nigerian Army to look critically into what transpired before our children were unlawfully dismissed. There are a lot of injustices happening in the NDA at that time which should be looked into to prevent reoccurrence.
“We knew what happened. We have the proof and the people who caused this problem are still alive. I petitioned all the service Chiefs including the immediate past Minister of Defense. Unfortunately, someone, we don’t know frustrated the investigation in the NDA.
“So, there is a need for a fresh investigation on this matter. Our children have undergone four and five years of hard training in the NDA.
“Before the Court, we were at the national assembly. And national assembly set up a committee and they found out the truth after which they asked the Nigerian Army, Chief of Defense Staff and Minister of Defense to reinstate back our children.
“But when they ignore that national assembly directive, we were left with no option but to approach the federal high court here in Kaduna and secured a judgment against the NDA after two years. The evidence we tendered before the national assembly is the same as what we tendered at the high court and won.
“The good thing is that two of the NDA lawyers were in attendance in the court even before the Judge came and they also stood up for recognition as demanded by the judge before delivering his judgment. So, we are convinced that the NDA is served with copies of the judgment but yet to recall our children as directed by the court,” he said.