The Joint Action Committee of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities and Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions, Academic Staff Union of Universities, and Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics have condemned Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki’s decision to call off the strike.
The unions described the suspension of all union activities in state institutions of higher learning as a lawless and undemocratic act.
Recall that the state government decided on Wednesday following a protest by students of Ambrose Ali University, Ekpoma, over the lingering strike by ASUU and other unions in the institution.
Speaking to reporters in an interview, SSANU’s National President, Mr. Ibrahim Mohammed, said it was not within the powers of any state government to proscribe the unions’ activities.
Mohammed said, “As far as we are concerned, this is an action that is dead on arrival, it is null and void. Maybe the governor was not properly briefed that there is a need for a high-level discussion on this matter.
“Our members cannot just resume like that because it’s a national action. These actions are not in tandem with our democratic culture. We are in a democracy, not a military era.”
The ASUU national president, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, said the governor had no right to proscribe the unions.
“There are many court judgments against the proscription of unions in tertiary institutions. The governor is misbehaving. We are going to challenge him in court. This same governor has removed the governing council and gone to the Senate that he has a law to set up a special intervention team to run a university, which is against any rule of the university in the world.
“His idea is to see how he can destroy the university. Our members will fight for it. We will not allow him to destroy one of the first universities in the country,” Osodoke stated.
