Agents of the Nigerian Police Force, Kaduna State Command, Saturday afternoon stormed the ancient city of Zaria and picked two lecturers over petition they wrote on the alleged overstay in office by the Director General of the National Research Institute of Chemical Technology (NARICT).
The petitioners, Dr. Ahmad Aliyu Palladan and Malam Bashir Ibrahim Bomo, addressed their letter to the President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, under the banner of Concerned Zaria Citizens.
Palladan and Bomo teach at the Federal College of Education, Zaria and Gombe, respectively.
They alleged that the DG of NARICT, Zaria, Professor Tsware Barminas Jeffery, is only entitled to a five-year single tenure, citing the new civil service rule that was passed in 2019.
Palladan and Bomo further intimated the President that the tenure of Prof. Jeffery ought to have ended on May 26, 2021, but with 2019 law, he was given additional one year and therefore supposed to leave office by May 26, 2022.
The petition reads in part: “Surprisingly, other research institutions under same Federal Ministry of Science and Technology have already demonstrated their patriotic commitment towards implementing the extant provisions of 2019 Revised Condition of Service of the Research Institutes regarding the tenure and the appointment of Director/Chief Executive Officer of their respective institutes.
“Just of recent, precisely, Monday, 14th March, 2022, the Federal Institute of Industrial Research, Oshodi, Lagos, an agency under the supervision of Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, has formally released its internal advertisement seeking for an outstanding and meritorious research officer to apply for the vacant position of Director General of the Research Institute….”
The petitioners further stated how Professor Jeffery forced many competent scientists and research fellows to leave the Institute on primordial grounds as well as how administrative due processes are violated in giving contract appointments to retired staff.
On the premise of the petition, the police whisked the duo from their different homes in Zaria to Kaduna where they were detained at the command’s Gabasawa detention facility.
When contacted, the spokesperson of the Kaduna State police command, DSP Aliyu Mohammed Jalige, requested for the names of the detainees and promised to confirm their status by Monday, July 18.
The two lecturers yesterday afternoon told one of their lawyers that no charges were prepared against them and were not asked to write any statement even after spending more than 24 hours in police detention, our correspondent was told.
