A Lieutenant Colonel of the Nigerian Army, Kingsley Iberi, is currently
down with stroke and paralysis after 14 years of waiting for his entitlements
which have not come.
It was learnt that 63-year-old Iberi, who hails from
Igbanke, Edo State, joined the army in January 1972 as a Cadet Officer, having
finished from the Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna State. His first place of
posting was 24 Infantry Battalion in Gboko, Benue State.
It was gathered that Iberi, who rose to the rank of a Lieutenant Colonel
in December 1990, was, however, dismissed from the army in 1998 after a court
martial, which his family described as a shoddy process.
He was tried by the army for conspiracy, cheating and impersonation,
which Iberi claimed he knew nothing about.
It was learnt that in 2002, Iberi filed an appeal against his dismissal
at the Federal Court of Appeal, Lagos, and the court ruled in February 2013
that Iberi should be reinstated in the army while his entitlements from 1998,
when he was wrongfully dismissed, be paid to him.
However, the family claimed that the Nigerian Army had yet to obey the
court judgment.
In a copy of the judgment obtained dated February 22, 2013, and presided
over by Justices Ibrahim Saulawa, Joseph Ikyegh and Rita Pemu, the court
martial verdict was declared invalid, and Iberi was asked to be reinstated and
paid his full entitlements.
The paper, with Appeal Number, CA/L/736M/2009, reads, “Having perused
the briefs of the argument of the learned counsel to the respective parties, I
hereby concur to the effect that the present appeal is meritorious. The
judgment of the court martial, delivered on May 26, 1998, is hereby set aside
for being perverse.
“The conviction and sentence passed upon the appellant stand quashed.
The appellant is accordingly discharged and acquitted. I abide by the
consequential order reinstating the appellant into the Nigerian Army with
immediate effect.”
Speaking on Wednesday, Iberi’s third son, Charles, said despite the
court of appeal’s judgment which mandated the reinstatement of his father and
payment of his entitlements, efforts to get the attention of the military
headquarters to obey the ruling had failed.
He said, “We took a letter, through our family lawyer, Fred Agbaje, to
the 81 Division, Nigeria Army, in Victoria Island in February 2014, but we have
not received any response.
“The Nigerian Armed Forces Resettlement Centre, Cappa, in Oshodi, Lagos,
was the last place daddy served before the hazy court martial judgment was
passed. We were directed to take a letter there too and attach the court of
appeal’s ruling, which we also did. For 14 years now, he has been living
without any entitlement. The pressure of the whole process made my father to
suffer a stroke. The expenses of his treatment alone are killing the family.
“We want the military authorities to look into this matter and honour
the court judgment, reinstate and pay all my father’s entitlements.”
It was learnt that Iberi, who was diagnosed of
stroke and paralysis in June 2006, has patient’s cards at the Aburime-Changsu
Oriental Diagnostic Hospital, Allen Avenue, Ikeja, (a Nigeria-Korea Acupuncture
Centre), and the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja, where he
visits for treatment.
A medical report obtained by our correspondent and signed by one Prof.
Sun from Aburime-Changsu, reads, “This is to certify that Mr. Iberi Kingsley is
a patient of this hospital. He was presented to us on June 26, 2006 during
which he was managed for Diabetes Melitus, Hypertension, Partial Stroke and
Paralysis. He is still undergoing treatment with us.”
On a visit to Iberi on Wednesday, the sexagenarian, who now uses a
stand-up lift to stand and walk, said since age could not allow him return to
service, the authorities of the Nigerian Army should pay his entitlements as
the court had ruled since 2013.
He said, “I was not just wrongfully dismissed from the army, I was made
to serve a two-year jail term at a Military Police Cell in Apapa. It was when I
came out that I filed the appeal, and the court ruled that both the court
martial judgment and the term I served were invalid, and I should be reinstated
and paid my entitlements.
“I developed this illness as a result of the shock that my entitlements
stopped suddenly and my family would have to live in penury. As I speak with
you, my wife sells in Oshodi so that the family can survive. The last salary I
was paid was in June 1997 before the hasty judgment. I want the authorities to
implement the court ruling and pay me all my entitlements.”
It was gathered that the Commandant of the NARFC in Oshodi, Air vice
Marshal M.R. Morgan, acknowledged the receipt of Iberi’s letter with the court
judgment on May 15, 2014, and passed the same to the Directorate of
Administration for onward action.
However, the Iberis had not heard any development since May.
The Director, Army Public Relations, Brig. General Olajide Laleye, told
our correspondent on the phone that the court judgment would undergo some due
processes at the army’s legal department.
He added that it was wrong of Iberi to have taken his plight to the
media because the media neither employed him nor dismissed him.
He said, “It is quite strange that an officer would start talking about
what happened to him to the press. Why is the officer going about to complain
about what is entirely a Nigerian Army affair?
“If a court has passed a judgment; the court knows how to send the
judgment to the Nigerian Army. When the judgment gets here, it goes to the
legal privacy. There is a procedure to be followed. The court has already given
a judgment and we know what to do in respect of it. The army must follow it own
procedures in respect of what the court has passed.”
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