ASUU threatens DSS with lawsuit over alleged assault

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Kano Zone, on Friday threatened to institute legal action against the Department of State Service (DSS) over an alleged assault of one of its members.

The Kano Zone of ASUU comprises the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Bayero University Kano (BUK), Kano State University Wudil, Kaduna State University, and Federal University Dutsinma, Katsina State.

Others are Maitama Sule University and Sule Lamido University, Kafin-Hausa, Kano.

The Chairman of ASUU, ABU chapter, Prof. Rabiu Nasiru, stated this at a news conference in Zaria, Kaduna State.

He alleged that the DSS assaulted one Prof. Abdulkadir Mohammed, the Kano Zonal Coordinator of the union while on assignment.

He said the news conference was aimed at calling the attention of concerned authorities and the general public to “unwholesome activities of some DSS personnel.”

Nasiru said the DSS operatives assaulted Mohammed while he was travelling to Katsina in his personal vehicle along Hadejia Road bye-pass in Kano.

READ ALSO: ASUU rejects sack of 16 lecturers, two others for participating in NLC warning strike in Kaduna

He said: “His fault, if any, was that he drove in the front of a motorcade being escorted by the DSS.

“The incident occurred on August 18 at about 2:00 p.m. on Hadejia Road bye-pass Kano and the attack was perpetrated by men of the DSS in a Hilux vehicle belonging to Kano State Government House.

“Besides the physical assault, they also smashed the windscreen and broke the side mirror of Mohammed’s car in a show of force for no just cause.”

The ASUU chairman urged the DSS leadership to take punitive measures against the officers involved as they portrayed the organisation in bad light.

Nasiru further demanded that the DSS should promptly make the personnel responsible for the shameful act to repair the victim’s damaged car with immediate effect to avoid legal action.

He appealed to the National Assembly to reorganise the DSS or review the provisions of Section 315 of the 1999 Constitution that incorporated the 1986 Decree 19 issued by the military.

He stressed that the review would ensure that the organisation conformed to democratic tenets and the rule of law.

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