Lagos cop accuses police of maltreatment for attempting to resign

A police officer, Corporal Fauzziyah Isiak, has lamented how the Nigeria Police Force detained her after she put in her resignation.
Isiak, who narrated her ordeal on Twitter, said after she submitted her resignation letter she was called into the office and was detained even as she disclosed that she was on her menses.

The officer, who is also an entrepreneur, decried the treatment she received for wanting to resign, saying, “I never saw this coming. I have never thought I’ll be put in detention without interrogation. All I did was try to resign. I have been trying to resign from the Police since last year but my letters were not approved. My boss had called me to show up yesterday 24th of May to meet the Deputy commissioner for an interview.”

“I thought they were finally going to approve my resignation but the only words I heard was that I should be detained to be tried and dismissed. Due to the shock, I couldn’t say anything as the officer led me away.

The officer, who is also a beekeeper, explaining further said, “Later, I heard that I should have begged and cried but my lack of reaction worsened the matter. I called a river after it all dawned on me. I have not taken my clothes and shoes off since yesterday. I can’t even change my sanitary pad. My migraine is throbbing at full speed and my head is about to explode from exhaustion.

“My mother has called that she has been advised to come and plead that I will continue working. I have been working for 6 years and I think it is fair to let someone go and aid them to leave if they do not want to stay anymore. I have been very easygoing since I was born, this is my first time in this kind of situation. I have always worked in the administrative department, in fact, the religious department of the Nigeria Police. I believe in pursuing everything with passion, I always remove myself whenever I think I am no longer giving full attention to a job or career.
“I don’t know how long I’ll be here for but I really need to sleep. If the women at the provost’s office had not given me some Paracetamol yesterday afternoon, I may not have survived until now. I don’t know how long I will be here for but I’ll appreciate a blanket with a sanitary pad. The cold is about to snuff my life out. As I sit here through the night and the mosquitos hum in my ears. I keep talking to them to ask them why someone who could have stamped my letter and put me through on what to do will have me held down and humiliated instead.”

She lamented too that she didn’t know what her mother would be going through with her in detention and that her mother had to come to Ikeja to plead on her behalf.

“My phone will die soon. This is a cry for help. I want to go home. Find me please Fauzziyah Ebunoluwa Isiak,” she tweeted.

But in response to her series of tweets and accusations, the Force Public Relations Officer, Prince Olumuyiwa Adejobi, said that everyone knows the process. “She is just being funny and misled, I guess. I am sure many have got the facts from the command.”
He explained that the process is clear. “You write a resignation letter through your DPO, to Area Commander, follow the ladder up to the IGP, and response comes via the same route. And if it’s so urgent that you must leave, you make payment equal to your salary for 3 months, to be paid to the purse of the government, with proof of payment. That is express. But if you have not received any approval, you must be on duty. So, she has not been reporting on duty. Too bad anyway.”

The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Superintendent Benjamin Hundeyin, explained that working with the Nigerian Police is not like working in the private sector where resignation is quickly processed.

He also disclosed that she was absent from duty for 21 days without leave or permission and the consequent actions taken by the police by detaining her. The Lagos Command Spokesperson said it is one thing to turn in your resignation and another for the application to be processed.

“Till you get the discharge certificate, you remain a serving member of the Force, bound by all extant rules and regulations of service.

“@PoliceNG absence from duty for twenty-one days without leave or permission automatically results in your being declared a deserter. Every serving member knows this.

“Corporal Fauzziyah Isiak, who serves in the office of the Imam of the Command, without leave, permission or discharge from service, absconded from duty for over a month, in flagrant disregard for the conditions of service she willingly signed to.

He said, “For this offence against discipline, she was detained yesterday for the commencement of her orderly room trial today.”

He also accused her of maliciously bringing the name of the Force into disrepute by distorting/misrepresenting facts – a discreditable conduct that amounts to another disciplinary offence in his tweet.