A staff of the Federal Polytechnic Mubi, Adamawa State, Emmanuel Peter Wahatana, has narrated how his wife left him after he lost his job at the Department of Animal Health and Production in Adamawa Federal Polytechnic.
Wahatana, a non-academic staff in a recent interview with the Whistler disclosed that he was arbitrarily sacked from his job on 3rd January 2013 by the former Rector of the polytechnic, Dr Sadiq Yahaya.
After the unexpected loss of his job, he fell into difficult times as life became tough and unbearable.
“My wife left me simply because things were not as good as they were. Every effort to let her reason with me and be patient with me failed.
“Firstly, my close friend who was also my landlord evicted me from his house because my rent was due and I couldn’t renew it at the appropriate time.
“Secondly, it was one of my friends that went and paid for the house, and pressured them to eject me for him to enter the house,” he stated.
Wahatana said his problems were compounded when he was saddled with the responsibility of managing his diabetic mother as the first son, and bread winner of the family.
“It got to the point that I couldn’t afford her recommended meals and her drugs because there was no money. I watched my mother dying because of lack of money to get her drugs. All these affected my family so badly but thank God for being God.
“It is exactly 10 years 4 months now since I was sacked. As a matter of fact, I am alive by the mercies of God. The termination has caused me too much damage that I don’t want to remember,” he narrated.
Wahatana described his sacking from the Polytechnic as unlawful and premeditated.
“I had no single query, let alone faced any disciplinary committee over anything. I haven’t been indicted for an offence before my termination. It came as a surprise to me.
“The termination of my appointment was not just unlawful, but a deliberate and orchestrated plan to possibly render me useless and make me a laughing stock in the society,” he said.
According to the aggrieved worker, he tried all means possible to get reinstated, but it did not work.
He said he wrote a “ series of appeals” seeking for internal redress to no avail until he met a young lawyer, one Barr. Samuel Udoh, who took over his case.
With the help of the lawyer, he won the case at the National Industrial Court, Yola, Adamawa State on 15th October 2021.
The Polytechnic was not satisfied with the judgment and approached the Court of Appeal Yola division.
However, on Thursday, last week, in a well considered decision of the Appeal Court in Yola, the application was refused as lacking in merit and accordingly dismissed.
The Court of Appeal is the final court in respect of appeals against final decisions of the National Industrial Court.
