DSS 'Detains' Bauchi State Chairman Of ASUU

Dr. Adamu Babayo, Chairman of the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU) chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), has been detained by the Department of State Services (DSS), the ASUU chapters of the ATBU and Bauchi State University, Gadau, have said.

Vice Chairman of the association, Dr Ibrahim Maina, decried Babayo's detention when he addressed a press conference in Bauchi on Sunday.

According to NAN, Maina alleged that Babayo was detained by the DSS operatives on Sunday, when he was invited to the department’s headquarters in Bauchi.

“The ASUU Chairman, Adamu Babayo was invited through a Short Message Service (SMS) which is not a formal way of invitation.

“On Friday, he received a text message requesting him to report to the DSS office in Bauchi on Sunday. He went to the office together with some of the executives of the association. The DSS operatives requested other members of his entourage to leave and detained him in their office," he said.

Stating that the chairman's detention was a violation of his rights, he said: "Let them explain to us why he was detained. That will give us the idea of what needs to be done.

“If the detention is in connection with the ongoing strike, it is a nationwide strike embarked on by the universities in the country and not a peculiar or personal problem. What wrong have we done by pressing for our rights through the strike?"

However, a DSS official, who preferred not to be named, insisted that Babayo was not detained but only invited to answer some questions.