By Jimitota Onoyume

PORT HARCOURT—The 344 lecturers of Rivers State Polytechnic who were relieved of their employment recently have again appealed to the state governor, Mr. Nyesom Wike, to reconsider the action of the government, saying that their employment followed due process.

The sacked lecturers, in a statement in Port Harcourt, yesterday, said that their recruitment process started on September 9, 2013 with advertorial in the state owned newspaper.

They said that between February and December, 2014 interviews were conducted for them according to their departments.

The sacked lecturers said they had resumed at their various departments and participated in the last semester examinations before the issue of the sack came up.

“We, the recruited members of staff of Rivers State Polytechnic, Bori, hereby humbly appeal for your intervention over the unlawful, wrongful and illegal termination of our employment.

“Our employment and recruitment processes started on September 9, 2013, when Rivers State Polytechnic, Bori, advertised for vacancies. Subsequently, interviews were conducted for shortlisted applicants within the months of February and December 2014, based on schools and department schedules.

“Thereafter, selected candidates were issued with appointment letters by the Polytechnic’s acting Registrar, A. O. Edeh; documentation and Biometric data captured with the Rivers State Head of Service, wherein we were issued with identification cards with Rivers State Staff numbers.

“Since then, we have all assumed duties at our various departments, where we (lecturers) participated in the then on-going first semester examination in the school.

“With utmost humility and due respect, we wish to state clearly that our employment was not hurriedly carried out as its processes dated back to September 2013,” they said.