The spokesperson of the Lagos State Police Command, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, has reacted after a young female officer alleged that she was detained for trying to resign from the force.
The officer, identified as Corporal Fauzziyah Isiak, had earlier taken to social media to lament how the Nigeria Police Force allegedly detained her after she submitted her resignation.
Isiak, who narrated her ordeal on Twitter, said she had worked for the force for six years and that she tendered her resignation last year, but it has not been approved to date.
Recounting how she was detained, the officer said that she was called by the deputy commissioner to “show up” on Wednesday for an interview.
She had thought that the call was to finally approve her resignation but was shocked to hear that she would be detained to be tried and dismissed.
“I never saw this coming. I never thought I would 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, May 24th, to meet the deputy commissioner for an interview.”
“I thought they were finally going to approve my resignation, but the only words I heard were 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,” she wrote in part.
However, reacting via his Twitter handle, Hundeyin said Isiak did not follow the laid-down procedure.
The spokesperson further said 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.”
“Setting the record straight,” the police said the detained officer did not follow the laid-down procedure. “It is one thing to submit your resignation. It is another thing for the application to be processed, upon which you receive your discharge certificate,” Hundeyin said.
“Until you get the discharge certificate, you remain a serving member of the Force, bound by all extant rules and regulations of service.
“Absence from duty for twenty-one days without leave or permission automatically results in your being declared a deserter. Every serving member knows this,” he added.
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. 1/7 https://t.co/tr9DtHdJDj
— SP Benjamin Hundeyin (@BenHundeyin) May 25, 2023
