Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Jibrin Okutepa, on March 24, 2026, announced that the Supreme Court has finally brought closure to the prolonged legal battle involving 96 teachers who were redeployed by the Benue State government in 2006.
In a statement shared on his X account, Okutepa described the ruling as the end of “the most agonizing journey” for the affected teachers, who were originally employed by the Benue State Universal Basic Education Board and various local governments. He explained that the teachers, drawn from different parts of Nigeria, had served in schools across the state before being “unjustly redeployed to their states of origin.”
“These teachers… were teaching in various local government schools in Benue State until sometime in 2006 when the government… unconstitutionally decided to redeploy them to their states of origin,” he said, stressing that the action was discriminatory since they were removed solely for not being indigenes of the state.
Okutepa revealed that he took up the case in 2006, challenging the decision on constitutional grounds. According to him, the court in 2008 ruled in favour of the teachers, ordering their reinstatement and the payment of their salaries and allowances. “Their redeployment… was held to be unconstitutional and discriminatory and therefore null and void,” he stated.
Despite the favourable judgment and subsequent dismissal of appeals, he lamented that the state government failed to comply with court orders for years. Efforts to enforce the judgment, including garnishee proceedings, were also resisted, leading to further litigation that dragged on for nearly two decades.
“Judgments of court orders must be obeyed,” Okutepa said, noting that the matter went through multiple legal hurdles before reaching the apex court. He added that the Supreme Court, in its final decision, dismissed all lingering appeals, effectively bringing the case to an end.
“At today’s proceedings, the Supreme Court gave decent burial to the case,” he said. “The Supreme Court ended the excruciating journey of nightmare of 96 Nigerians today.”
The senior lawyer also reflected on the difficulty of obtaining timely justice in Nigeria, noting that the affected teachers had not received salaries since 2005. He, however, commended the justices of the Supreme Court for their firmness in delivering the final judgment.
