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Sacked lecturers
to sue NDA over termination of appointments
By
Sukuji Bakoji,
Bureau Chief, Kaduna
Four
academic staff of the premier military institution, the Nigerian Defence
Academy (NDA), Kaduna, have threatened to sue the institution over alleged
wrongful termination of their appointments by the authorities.
The
affected lecturers whose appointments were terminated by the NDA authorities on
27th October, are Mallam Hussaini Abdu of the Department of Political Science,
Dr. Abdullahi Ashafa of the Department of History, Alhaji Hamza Abba and Mr.
Donald Kukwa, both of the Department of Chemistry.
Briefing
newsmen on their plight, the spokesman of the affected lecturers, Abdu stated
that they are victims of circumstances.
According
to him, “no due process was followed as contained in the
institution’s conditions of service for Academic and Senior Non Academic
staff,” hence they intend to seek legal redress in the law court.
Said
he, “the termination of our appointments was not only contrary to the
condition of service governing our statutory employment and due process; it was
also against the spirit of democracy, which some military officers are yet to
appreciate.
“Although
the crisis in NDA predates the incumbent Commandant, Major General Abel Akale,
the Academy has never had it this bad. The situation in Nigerian Defence
Academy today can best be described as a disaster requiring urgent intervention
for it to be contained.
“Our
concern is not that we were sacked, but the manner and procedure were
calculatedly wrong and the intention was mischievous and in bad taste. We were
never served with a query nor made to appear before any disciplinary committee
for whatever offences as the law stipulated. Further to this, the NDA board,
which has the powers to approve the termination of senior civil service
employees never met to take decision”.
He,
however, explained that the NDA authorities perceived them to be radical
elements in the defence institution.
“The
Academy is gradually drifting into a wanton dictatorship of a cult of officers,
who think, without due regards to the law, that they have the power to decide
on who works in NDA. Since 2001 when Col. Cecil Esekhaigbe became the Registrar
of NDA, he has been using every opportunity to carry out systematic elimination
of those he considered to be principled, uncompromising and critical of his
cult-like style of …administration,” Abdu alleged.
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