SSANU bemoans ownership crisis of Ladoke varsity

The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) has decried the ownership tussle between the indigenes of Oyo and Osun states at the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso.

The unions said the struggle is becoming a threat to lives and property of the staff.

The association has therefore called on the governors of the two states and the traditional institutions to wade into the face-off and ensure amicable resolution of the crisis.

Speaking on the tussle, the National President of SSANU, Samson Ugwoke said the governors would have had the matter sorted out without allowing it to degenerate to the point where the security of workers, students and the environment in which they operate would no longer be conducive.

Ugwoke in a statement signed by the National Public Relations Officer, NPRO of SSANU, Olayiwola Salaam, in Abuja, said that ethnicity or state of origin should not be an issue in a citadel of learning.

The statement read in part: “The Union had tarried a while before making any public statement or comment on the issue, in the simple confidence that the spirit of Yoruba unity and solidarity would have prevailed and sorted out the impasse.

“This confidence was further buoyed in the belief that the governors and governments of Oyo and Osun States, belonging to the same political party, would have had the matter sorted out without it degenerating to this point where the security of workers, students and the environment in which they operate is no longer guaranteed.

“Unfortunately, our expectations have been dashed and we are now forced to intervene in this issue in the hope that our voice is heard and sanity is restored to the university as a matter of urgency.”

SSANU said the level of ethnic bigotry at the University has now pitched members of the University community against each other.