A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Gboyega Oyewole, has called on the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen. Christopher Musa, to intervene and enforce compliance with a Supreme Court judgment reinstating and promoting Lt. Cdr. S. A. Ibe-Lambert of the Nigerian Navy.
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In a letter dated September 9, 2025, Oyewole appealed to the CDS to ensure the withdrawal of a “deserter signal” issued against his client by the Nigerian Navy on September 3, declaring her a deserter with effect from December 2, 2019.
The senior lawyer expressed regret that despite recognition of the Supreme Court judgment by the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and explicit directives to the Navy to comply, the naval authorities have failed to act.
The Supreme Court had, on September 21, 2007, ordered the reinstatement of Lt. Cdr. Ibe-Lambert (NN/0840) into the Nigerian Navy, granting her all accrued entitlements, benefits, and dues, including promotion, from the commencement of her litigation until reinstatement. The judgment was further reinforced by an order of the Federal High Court on February 22, 2013.
According to Oyewole, the Office of the Solicitor-General of the Federation and Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Justice, under the AGF, had on November 12, 2015, and January 25, 2016, issued letters directing the Navy to comply with the judgment. However, he noted that the service has “refused and/or neglected” to reinstate, promote, or pay the accrued entitlements of his client to date.
He stressed that since 2019, Ibe-Lambert had exceeded the statutory years of service and is presumed to have retired, but instead of compliance with the subsisting judgments, the Navy issued the recent “deserter signal” and allegedly resorted to intimidation and harassment.
“Our client finds the actions being taken by the Nigerian Navy not only unlawful but baseless, contemptuous, troubling, and an affront to the rule of law and her constitutional rights,” Oyewole stated.
He described it as particularly disturbing that the Navy has chosen to treat with contempt the directives of the AGF, the Chief Law Officer of the Federation, noting that such defiance sends a wrong message in a democratic setting.
“The Nigerian Navy is not above the law and is still subject to the judgment of sacred institutions like the Supreme Court, which is the highest court of the land. The Navy should, therefore, avoid sending a wrong message that they can treat both the Supreme Court and the Office of the AGF with impunity,” he wrote.
The SAN urged the CDS to direct immediate compliance with the court’s judgments by ensuring the payment of all accrued entitlements, benefits, and promotion due to Ibe-Lambert, and to mandate the withdrawal of the “arbitrary deserter signal.”
According to him, such a step is necessary to safeguard the integrity of the Nigerian Navy and prevent “attendant embarrassment” to the institution if further legal steps become inevitable.
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