Lecturer Joseph Lual Dario said he was picked up by plain-clothed officers while heading to the national security office in Wau. (Photo: Joseph Lual).

The chairperson of the academic staff at Bahr el Ghazal University has been released after spending twelve hours inside an unknown detention facility in Wau town on Wednesday.

The detention of Lecturer Joseph Lual Dario came a day after the university’s staff association announced a strike early this week.

Lual Dario said he was phoned by the national security on Wednesday morning to report to its office in Wau town.

But Lual said he was intercepted and ordered into a tinted car by four men while heading to the office of national security office.

“I was called in the morning by National Security in Western Bahr El ghazal state, so on way going there I was arrested by a certain group of four people by three of them wearing civilians clothes,” he said.

“One person wearing a uniform of national security, so from there they told me to just get in the car, and I had just been brought out from the car and taken inside and I just heard the first door was opened and the second door just been open also and was pushed to the room,” he said.

He narrated that the officers, one of whom identifies with the national security – then blindfolded him and drove him to an unknown location where he was dumped in a room.

Joseph Lual Dario said he spent 10 hours in an unknown detention facility before being dumped in an area adjacent to the Bahr el Ghazal Teaching Hospital.

Lual however said, he went to the office the following day, but the same person who phoned him denied his involvement.

“The person from national security called to come and investigate me and then he told me tomorrow morning you must come to my office. Yesterday morning I went to the office and they denied it completely and I opened a police case.”

When contacted, Western Bahr el Ghazal State police Commissioner Major General Ajuong Chuar says he did not receive any report about the incident.

“We are always having morning report at 6 am before we report it to Juba, in these two days I didn’t receive any such kind of report,” said General Ajuong.

“What we have was the strike of Bahr el Ghazal, but if he was arrested or detained, I heard it through Eye Radio, he was speaking yesterday.”

Speaking to Eye Radio on Friday afternoon, the security official said he “didn’t receive any such of report officially” because the education official did not file a police case.

Lual’s kidnapping comes after the regional university issued an ultimatum for the national government to implement the new salary structure for civil servants without delay.

The administration staff went on strike after the ultimatum elapsed and the government failed to respond to the salary arrears demand.

According to the protesting staff, they wanted their payment to be done at the exchange rate of 629 pounds per a US dollar.

They also demanded medical allowances, tickets, and training for teaching staff to improve the delivery of instructions.