Poly workers protest, demand rector’s removal

• ‘I ‘ve done nothing to warrant it’

Workers of the Federal Polytechnic, Ado Ekiti have staged a peaceful protest, demanding removal of the rector, Dr. Taiwo Akande over alleged fraudulent practices and non-payment of allowances.

The workers, who have been on strike since October 10 over allegation of financial profligacy leveled against the management, disrupted vehicular movement along Ado-Ijan-Ikare road for several hours.

Led by a leader of the institution’s branch of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), Mr. Tunji Owoeye and his counterpart in the Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Polytechnics (SSANIP), Dr. Oluwole Ayeni, the workers held a prayer session on the road for several hours, leading to disruption of vehicular traffic.

The workers who brandished leaves and sang anti-rector songs vowed not to resume work until Akande is removed. They dared the management which threatened to invoke no-work-no-pay rule to coerce them to resume
work.

In her reaction, the rector, who described the allegations against her as frivolous, said she had not breached any law to warrant her removal by the Federal Government.

Akande said she stopped payment of CONTISS 15 and 50 per cent cooperative deduction because they had no financial backing to implement such.

“We have about 1,400 workers here and it is unfortunate that less than 100 workers are holding the institution into ransom, threatening other workers with charms to coerce them to join the protest. All their demands are known to the government and we can’t do more than what government approved for the institution,” she said.

Addressing journalists during the protest, the ASUP and SSANIP leaders said they had written to President Muhammadu Buhari and
other top government functionaries, as well as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate the fraud allegations
levelled against the rector.