Authorities of Lagos State University (LASU) have urged the Academic Staff Union of University (ASUU) not to plunge the institution into a fresh crisis by feeding the public with false information on 16 of their colleagues who the university sacked last September.
LASU said the current peace on its campus was the result of the reform and an all-inclusive governance style it administered for the acceptance of all parties.
A statement by its Public Relations Officer (PRO), Ademola Adekoya, said: “The call for crisis by the few discredited ones among them is mischievous and self-serving and should be completely disregarded and ignored.”
The university management was reacting to a report by ASUU’s Lagos Zone which urged the Lagos State government to set up an independent panel of enquiry to review the case of the sacked lecturers, who included the chairman and vice chairman of ASUU at LASU, Isaac Akinloye Oyewunmi and Adeyemi Suenu.
ASUU’s Lagos Zonal Coordinator, Prof Olusiji Sowande, accused the university of conniving with certain elements in government to victimise their colleagues.
ASUU also accused LASU management of high-handedness, disregard for due process as well as undue victimisation of their members, now led by ASUU-LASU Treasurer, Dr Oluwakemi Aboderin-Sonibare.
Adekoya regretted that ASUU was more concerned about the two union leaders than the others.
The university said ASUU was playing the ostrich, adding that the management’s decision was in line with LASU’s Condition of Service.
The statement said: “What they (ASUU) failed to tell the public was that the sack of the two, alongside others, was in line with the Conditions of Service of the university. They refused to state that the allegations against the sacked workers were, ab initio, brought forward by the victims of their indiscretion in some cases, and or staff members from their own local union (ASUU-LASU).
“In fact, the information that led to the dismissal of a number of the academic workers, who were dismissed, was given by officials of ASUU-LASU executive before further checks revealed that a member of the executive was himself culpable.”
It added: “All cases went through impartial statutory committees, which established their culpability on the various acts of misconduct before the university’s Governing Council, its highest decision-making body, ratified the dismissals.”
LASU said the union’s call for the state government to set up an independent panel of enquiry was like chasing shadows.
It added that by the Edict that established LASU, a statutory panel of enquiry to appraise the activities of the union only comes up every 10 years, and the institution is not yet due for that.
“Supporting impunity and illegality of individuals and shielding them from due sanctions, because they are union executives casts a shadow of doubt on the integrity of ASUU leadership as a body,” the statement stated.
“For ASUU to continue in this path of dishonour portends grave danger for the future of our universities and every concerned stakeholder must rise up to save our ivory towers from further onslaught.”