ASUU flays dismissal of LASU Chair, deputy, others

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Lagos Zone, on Wednesday, flayed the processes that led to the dismissal of ASUU chairman, Lagos State University (LASU) chapter and his deputy.
Prof. Olusiji Sowande, ASUU Zonal Coordinator, said at a media briefing at LASU that the process was manipulated and did not follow due process.
LASU’s Governing Council had on September 8 dismissed 15 academic staff members, two non-academic staff members and demoted two others.
The affected lecturers are ASUU Chairman, Dr Isaac Oyewunmi, and his deputy, Dr Adebowale Adeyemi-Suenu.
Sowande said the “trial” of the union officials and 13 other lecturers by the management was a predetermined attempt to implicate the union leadership.
He said ASUU was not against discipline of any of its members who erred, but it believes in due process, fairness, justice and equity .
“We have reports that the Council Secretariat was instructed not to circulate the reports of the disciplinary cases to members of the council for consideration even on the floor of the meeting.
“We are aware too that the reports presented by the Chairman of the joint Senate-Council Committee on disciplinary matters did not reflect the deliberations and decision reached at the panel.
“Hence, the hurried power-point presentation made on floor of the Council’s meeting, ” he said.
Sowande disclosed that the union was also aware of plans by the university’s management and the Council since 2016 to increase tuition again the union had resisted.
He said the incubation of related obnoxious policies such as programme rationalisation as well as the“no vacancy, no promotion” policy were evils of yesterday that would not be allowed to return to the institution by the union.
The Lagos Zone ASUU boss, however, condemned attempt by the LASU Vice-Chancellor to forcefully eject the ASUU-LASU chairman from the union’s secretariat and the university premises.
He warned the VC and “gun-wielding” security operatives in the institution to desist from the daily siege on the ASUU-LASU Secretariat.
According to Sowande, the union will not continue to endure the unwarranted assault on the chairman and his deputy as they had maintained their calm in the face of needless provocation .
Sowande said: “Oyewunmi and Adeyemi-Suenu remain the Chairman and Vice-Chairman as the Secretary continues to oversee the secretariat while the union pursues justice in the matter to its logical conclusion.”
He described the demand by some ASUU-LASU Congress to dissolve the present ASUU-LASU executive and nominate a caretaker committee to oversee the affairs of the union as illegal and unconstitutional.
NAN quotes the Council as saying that Oyewunmi was dismissed over alleged demand of the sum of N50, 000 from 2003 modular year students of Political Science Education of the sandwich programme to process their results.
The council also claimed that Adeyemi-Suenu unilaterally altered the results of 12 students already advised to withdraw by the Senate in the Department of History and International Studies in the 2015/2016 academic session.
Others were accused of defaulting on the conditions precedent to their training leave bond and abandonment of duty.