Crisis is now brewing in Oyo State chapter of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) over the alleged plot by the state government to extend the tenure of the incumbent state chairman of the union, Raji Oladimeji.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the extension of Oladimeji’s length of service by three years, purportedly by Governor Seyi Makinde, did not go down well with some members of the union.

NAN gathered that the NUT chairman, who was elected into office last year for a four-year tenure, was expected to have retired from service in May.

He, however, secured an extension of his service years apparently to allow him to complete his term of office.

Though some elders within the union have agreed to wade in, the crisis, has, however, refused to abate due to the insistence of the aggrieved members that the chairman should quit his position as NUT chairman.

One of the aggrieved teachers, Sulaimon Salaudeen, said the crisis was due to the refusal of the chairman, who was to have retired and vacated office as NUT chairman but claiming that he had been given an extension of service.

“If at all he has been given an extension of service, does that allow him to continue as the NUT chairman? That is what the teachers are fighting for,” Salaudeen said.

A former Secretary of NUT in the state, OluAbiala, yesterday, said that stakeholders within the union had been called upon to resolve the crisis.

He said the extension of the service year for the NUT chairman could be regarded as circumstantial, as he did not meet with the governor to solicit for the extension.

He said that Oladimeji only met with the governor to press for the implementation of a new career structure for teachers in the state, which would see their length of service being increased to 40 years or 65 years of age.

Abiala, also a former Secretary of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in the state, said the extension of service was to allow the NUT chairman to finish the struggle he had started.

He said that the governor thought that Oladimeji should also be a beneficiary of the extension of service being planned for the teachers in the state.

The labour leader said the grouse of the aggrieved members against the chairman was that he should have been more concerned with the extension of service for all members rather than being concerned with his matter alone.

He, however, said that if Oladimeji had to wait for the time the governor would implement the extension of service for all the teachers in the state, he would have retired and would, therefore, not be able to benefit from it.

The NUT chairman, who spoke on the development, said that the matter was an in-house issue, which was being resolved.

Oladimeji said that agitation for extension of teachers’ service year was a national issue.