Protesters stormed the Lagos House Assembly to demand the reinstatement of five lecturers at the Lagos State University (LASU) who were allegedly wrongly dismissed from service.
The protest began on Wednesday at Ikeja Under Bridge and proceeded to the Lagos House Assembly to submit their petition for the reinstatement of the five lecturers.
The demonstrators called on Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to reinstate the lecturers and put an end to their suffering. They carried placards with the inscriptions such as “The unjust dismissal of ASUU-LASU 5 is academic terrorism. Let scholars breathe!!!”, “We say no to academic terrorism at LASU,” “Union’s rights are human rights”, and “Sanwo-Olu — Intimidation is not Leadership. Recall LASU 5 now.”
The dismissed lecturers are executives of LASU’s chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), and were sacked between 2017 and 2019.
They are Akinloye Isaac Oyewumi (ASUU-LASU chairman), Adebowale Adeyemi-Suenu (vice-chairman), Anthony Dansu (secretary), Adeolu Oluwaseyi Oyekan (assistant secretary), and Oluwakemi Aboderin-Shonibare (treasurer).
An activist, Abudu Akinlola Olumayowa, told newsmen during the protest that the Lagos State Government must respect human rights by reinstating the dismissed lecturers. According to him, the dismissed lecturers are scholars who have valuable knowledge to offer and positively impact members of the society.
“We are joining others today to demand protection of human rights,” he said.
“Violations of fundamental human rights must stop. We are here for one of our agitations since 2019. We are calling for the reinstatement of LASU Five.”
It would be recalled the management of LASU sanctioned the lecturers for “unauthorised removal, retention, dissemination, or publication of official documents.”
In February 2022, the David Sunmoni-led Governing Council of Lagos State University reinstated the sacked lecturers. The reinstatement came after an appeal committee headed by Adenike Boyo, then deputy vice-chancellor, cleared the lecturers of all offences and recommended their reinstatement.
However, 48 hours later, the same governing council reversed itself and put the lecturers’ recall on hold, leaving the affected staff still pursuing justice.
