The NIS allegedly queried Badru for reporting to the police an assault on him by a senior officer, Nasir Umar, in 2019.
The Guardian learned that Badru was deployed in the Very Important Persons’ unit to attend to passport applicants when Umar walked into the office and accused the officer of being too slow at his duty post.
The victim was reported to have told Umar that he could not have been faster than he was because the Internet services were poor on that day, but the senior officer was said to have abused him.
Not satisfied with the verbal abuse, Umar allegedly assaulted Badru, but a superior officer to both of them stepped in to prevent the incident from degenerating into a brawl.
It was said that men and officers of the NIS were pained by the assault and the alleged cover-up of the incident, saying Umar had been abusive to junior colleagues and unruly to some of his seniors because of his connection to top officers in the NIS.
The case was reported to the police and then taken to court after efforts to get justice from the NIS failed. After much back-and-forth, the case was resolved. Badru sat for the latest promotional examination, but he was not promoted after he ‘passed’ it.
In a message to The Guardian yesterday, he said: “I am so depressed. The board confirmed to me that I did well and was recommended for promotion in obedience to the court’s directive, but that the legal team of immigration removed my name.
“I also spoke with the Personal Assistant (PA) to our Comptroller-General for over an hour on Friday. In fact, I spoke with the PA to the Secretary of the Board, and he was shocked to hear that NIS went ahead to remove my name from the list despite the Board’s intervention.”
When The Guardian reached out to the Senior Assistant (SA) to the Comptroller General on Servicom, Muhammed Abubakar, he said: “I am an officer like him, and I cannot determine who passes an examination. I sat for an exam like him. I sat for an exam several times, and I failed my exams. I spent seven years on a rank, but today, I am a senior officer; once you don’t find your name among the successful, it is deemed that you failed your exam.
“If anyone is in doubt, he or she can write to the board. I told him that the NIS has nothing to do with the result. I am one of the prosecuting lawyers of NIS, and I know that the board will give anyone his result, and the answer script will also be provided. There is freedom of information.”
“He called me on Thursday, and I advised him. Badru sat for the exam less than a year before he was promoted, and he was supposed to wait three years before sitting for another exam, but he insisted that he wanted to be on par with his colleagues. I went to the CG to appeal to the board to allow him to sit for the exam, and he was allowed to take it.”
