ASUU to rally against dismissal of five LASU lecturers

Barring any last-minute hitches, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is expected to hold a rally today, Tuesday, in protest of what they term the unlawful dismissal of five lecturers at Lagos State University (LASU), Ojo.

In a statement released by ASUU Owerri Zone, the body said that there is no going back on the protest march after the management of LASU failed to reinstate the lecturers.

The union also listed other institutions that are currently victimising its members, namely: Kogi State University (KSU), Ebonyi State University (EBSU), Ambrose Alli University Ekpoma (AAUE), Edo State; Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University (COOU), Anambra State; and the Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO), Imo State.

“Fellow Nigerians and compatriots, we are disheartened by the deliberate reluctance of the respective university administration governing councils and visitors of the stated universities to halt the spiralling victimisation of academic staff for standing for truth.

“The victimisation suffered by our members ranges from dismissal from service, suspension from duty and statutory meetings, denial of promotion, deliberate seizure of salaries, non-payment of promotion arrears, and non-responsibility by seeking the truth, finding the truth, teaching the truth, and defending the truth.

“ASUU is particularly disturbed at the seeming travesty of justice in the judgement delivered against our members at Kogi State University, Anyigba, after seven years of waiting,” the statement read.

In 2019, the university’s management dismissed several ASUU members, including Isaac Oyewumi, the union’s chairman; Adebowale Adeyemi-Suenu, vice chairman; Dr. Tony Dansu, secretary; Adeolu Oluwaseyi Oyekan, assistant secretary; and Oluwakemi Aboderin-Shonibare, treasurer.

The university asserted that accusations of unauthorised removal, retention, distribution, or publication of official confidential documents led to the dismissal of the lecturers.