A PASSIONATE APPEAL TO AISHA BUHARI, DOLAPO OSINBAJO
Dear mothers of Nigeria, Mrs. Aisha Muhammadu Buhari and Mrs. Dolapo Yemi Osinbajo. My name is Zanab Kaka Saliu. I am a girl-child and a citizen of Nigeria. After much struggles and toiling, I graduated from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka in the year 2010 in Political Science with Second Class (Hons) Lower Division (2.2). After searching for jobs in Nigeria for nearly six (6) years, I found one in the Nigeria Police Recruitment Exercise of 2016 and was denied the opportunity by the authorities of Police College, Jos to this day which necessitated my complaints to various quarters and to you.
Dear mothers, my plight started thus: I applied as directed by the Nigeria Police Recruitment Exercise of 2016 in Nigeria. I complied with all criteria, rules and regulations to the letter by going through all the hurdles in the rain, in the cold, in the sunshine and passed through the most difficult parts of Police Medical Exercise and was successful. My name, Zanab Kaka Saliu, (Female), Identity Number: KGS/CASP/BO1002F, Kogi State, was number Sixteen (16) on the list of Successful Candidates for the Recruitment of General Duty Candidates for the 2016 Police Recruitment Exercise, Kogi State Cadet ASP 1-17 as published on Page 45 of Leadership Newspaper of Saturday, December 24, 2016.
We were therefore, directed to report on 31/12/2016 being Saturday, at Police College, Jos. My parents got me prepared and I arrived Jos on the 30/12/2016 being a Friday but, was told to wait outside the Police College, which I considered to be an abuse of the rights of a Girl- Child by the College till the next day, which was the actual resumption day. I got a hotel accommodation near the Police College, Jos and shared the hotel room with friends that had come for the same Police College resumption to save cost. The following day, Saturday 31/12/2016, which was the actual resumption day, became another story all together again. The big blow came when I was asked along with some others to go back home after spending all the money we had on feeding and paying hotel bills for close to a week in Jos Police College environment. It was as if my world had come to an end when the Commandant of the Police College, Jos said we should go home and wait for a new date of resumption because our names were on the Reserve List. The new date has not been announced till today. It’s been a traumatic experience for me.
From Saturday, 31/12/2016 when I was sent back home as a candidate on Police College Recruitment Reserve List to the passing out of my colleagues which was concluded recently, nothing was heard from the Jos Police College. Where then is my hope? The passing out of my colleagues without me is the core reason of this complaint to you. But I have the belief and hope that you will assist me by ensuring that this injustice to a girl-child is addressed so that I can be called back to the Police College, Jos.
Over the past months, my parents ran from pillars to poles to ensure that my strong desire to build a career in the Nigeria Police Force and serve my nation through this noble force was not frustrated. The former Speaker of Kogi State House of Assembly, the Rt. Hon. Umar Ahmed Imam, in his usual magnanimity and passion, intervened by writing a letter dated May 12, 2017 to the Inspector General of Police Ibrahim Kpotun Idris on the plight and right of a Girl- Child (Zanab Kaka Saliu) with Reference Number: KGS/ CASP/BO 1002F, who had gone through the whole process of Police Recruitment Exercise and was successful but turned back at the point of resumption on the ground that her name was on the reserve list and her date of resumption would be communicated to her, which never happened. Nothing was heard from the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to date. Nothing was heard from the Police College, Jos to date; and nothing was heard from my State Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, who I first complained to through the internet (Social Media) on my denial of resumption at Police College, Jos on Saturday 31/12/2016 after my name was listed as a successful candidate.
My dear mothers, I plead for your kind intervention on compassionate ground. You are my last hope aside Allah/God. I am at your mercy today as we all shall one day be at the mercy of Almighty Allah/God. Please urgently intervene in what I consider a denial of my right as Nigerian citizen and the worsening of my plight as a Girl- Child who struggled through University Education and graduated with Second Class Lower Division (2.2) from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka in 2010. I have been surviving through the magnanimity of my parents seven years after graduation.
Police authorities have made another announcement on recruitment of almost 5,000 in 2018. What is my fate as a successful candidate placed on reserve list? Am I to go and resume at the Nigeria Police College, Jos since I have gone through the last hurdles and was successful? Or to repeat another Police Recruitment Exercise all over again?
Waiting patiently for your urgent and kind intervention. I still have hope in this great country. Thank you my dear mothers.
Your daughter,