Policewoman challenges her alleged detention over resignation

A female policewoman, Fauzziyah Isiak, has accused the Nigeria Police Force of clamping her into detention after she tendered a resignation letter to quit the police job.

Isiak, a corporal with the Lagos Police Command, revealed this in a series of tweets on Thursday.

She said after a number of failed attempts to quit the force in the last one year, she finally sent in her letter of resignation.

She said she submitted the letter after working for six years. But the action landed her in detention.

Her tweets

She wrote: “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

“Later, I heard that I should have begged and cried but my lack of reaction worsened the matter. I cried 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.”

She narrates her condition in detention

“I don’t know how long I’ll be here for but I really need to sleep. If the women at the provost 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 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. I can’t imagine what my mother will be going through now to hear that her daughter is being detained and she has to come to Ikeja to plead on her behalf. My mother has never had to worry over me before and she has to do it without my dad.

“I wonder what my dad would have thought if he were alive. He was such a calm person. He always knew what to say. I really want to go home. I don’t know who will read this. My phone will die soon. This is a cry for help. I want to go home. Find me please Fauzziyah Ebunoluwa Isiak.”

But in response, the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, said working with the Nigerian Police is not like working in the private sector where resignation is quickly processed.

Apparently explaining reasons for Isiak’s detention, he accused the officer of absconding from duty.

The PPRO wrote, “Setting the Records Straight: It is one thing to turn in your resignation. It is another thing for the application to be processed, upon which you receive your discharge certificate.

“Till you get the discharge certificate, you remain a serving member of the Force, bound by all extant rules and regulation 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.
“For this offence against discipline, she was detained yesterday for the commencement of her orderly room trial today.
“Secondly, she has maliciously brought the name of the Force into disrepute by distorting/misrepresenting facts – a discreditable conduct that amounts to another disciplinary offence.”