ASUU seeks reinstatement of sacked five LASU, 120 Kogi lecturers

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Lagos zone, has appealed to Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, to reinstate the five lecturers sacked during the tenure of the former Vice Chancellor of the institution, Prof. Olanrewaju Fagbohun.

The union bemoaned the continued victimisation of ASUU leaders in the university, saying it has been trending for seven years without any significant progress being made.

It would be recalled that the five executive council members of the union were dismissed by the Prof. Adebayo Ninalowo-led governing council under the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Fagbohun.

The Coordinator of Lagos Zone ASUU Prof. Adelaja Odukoya, who spoke during a media briefing, yesterday, urged Sanwo-Olu, who is the Visitor to the university, to release the white paper of the visitation panel without further delay, noting that the institution’s governing council had already granted them exoneration.

He, therefore, urged the state government to lift the embargo placed on the implementation of the decision of the LASU Governing Council, lamenting that the sacked lecturers were unjustly dismissed.

However, members of the union held a protest on the campus, chanting solidarity songs and carrying placards with inscriptions such as “ASUU leaders deserve justice,” “Recall ASUU-LASU five,” among others.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academics), Prof. Olufunsho Omobitan, who spoke with the aggrieved union members at the Senate Building on behalf of the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Ibiyemi Olatunji-Bello, urged the union to exercise patience, saying that the governor is looking into the matter for final resolution.

RELATEDLY, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has appealed to the Kogi State Government to reinstate 120 academic members of staff of Kogi State University (KSU), Anyigba, sacked by the immediate past administration of the state in 2017.

Chairman of the University of Nigeria (UNN) ASUU chapter, Onyibo Eze, said that 120 lecturers whose appointments were terminated for participating in the six-month local strike in 2017 to demand payment of arrears of salaries had suffered since the forced termination of their appointments.

MEANWHILE, the ASUU Benin Zone, yesterday, decried the systemic oppression and persecution of its members in some universities, perpetrated by institutional powers and state authorities.

A statement by the Zonal Coordinator of Benin Zone of ASUU, Prof. Monday Lewis Igbafen, which was made available to newsmen in Benin, warned that the development is antithetical to industrial peace and harmony in the universities, given that the egregious victimisation undermines the very fabric of academic freedom and harmony.