Breaking ....After 20yrs of struggle, Supreme Court ends ‘nightmare’ of 96 'non-indigenous' Benue teachers denied salaries since 2005

By Johnson Arua

After nearly two decades of legal battles, the Supreme Court of Nigeria has brought closure to what has been described as an “agonizing” and “excruciating journey” for 96 teachers unjustly redeployed by the Benue State Government.

Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Jibrin Okutepa, who represented the affected teachers, disclosed the development on his X (formerly Twitter) handle on Tuesday, recounting the long and painful legal fight that began in 2006.

“Today the 24th day of March 2026, the Supreme Court of Nigeria finally ended the most agonizing journey of 96 Nigerian teachers who were unjustly redeployed to their states of origin by the government of Benue State in 2006,” Okutepa stated.

According to him, the teachers, who were employed by the Benue State Universal Basic Education Board and various local governments, had dedicated years of service to the state before they were abruptly redeployed on the grounds that they were not indigenes of Benue.

“These Nigerians… 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.

Okutepa described the action as discriminatory, noting that the teachers had “lived all their lives in the service of Benue State” despite not being indigenes.

He explained that the legal challenge, filed in 2006, sought to nullify the redeployment and affirm the teachers’ employment status, alongside the payment of their salaries and allowances.

Delivering judgment in 2008, Justice Joseph Tine Tur ruled in favour of the teachers, ordering their reinstatement and payment of all outstanding entitlements.
“Their redeployment… was held to be unconstitutional and discriminatory and therefore null and void,” Okutepa recalled.

Despite the judgment being upheld on appeal, the Benue State Government failed to comply with the court’s orders, prompting further legal actions to enforce payment.

“In 2018 or so we calculated the salaries and allowances… we sent it to the government to pay. It ignored it,” he said, adding that garnishee proceedings initiated to recover the funds were also resisted.

Even after a garnishee order was made absolute around 2021, compliance remained elusive.

“Despite the garnishee orders absolute neither the garnishee nor the Benue State government respected the court orders. We waited and waited to no avail. Judgments of court orders must be obeyed,” he stressed.

The enforcement of the judgment in 2024 triggered fresh litigation by the state government, which sought interpretation of earlier court decisions—a move that was dismissed at the High Court, Court of Appeal, and ultimately the Supreme Court.
“At today’s proceedings the Supreme Court gave decent burial to the case,” Okutepa said.

Reflecting on the prolonged ordeal, he lamented the difficulty of securing timely justice in Nigeria. “To obtain immediate justice in Nigeria is difficult… The Supreme Court ended the excruciating journey of nightmare of 96 Nigerians today,” he said.

He further revealed that the affected teachers had not received salaries or allowances since 2005.

“These 96 Nigerians last received salaries and allowances in 2005,” he added, while commending the apex court for its firmness. “God bless the justices of the Supreme Court always.”