The National Executive Committee (NEC) of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has flayed the management of the Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko (AAUA) in Ondo State, for the attack on its members by the institution’s internal security men, known as “Sheriff Deputies.”
It backed the boycott of lectures by AAUA lecturers, saying the institution’s authorities, led by the Vice-Chancellor (VC), Prof. Femi Mimiko, had never hidden its hatred for labour unions.
An ASUU Zonal meeting was allegedly disrupted at AAUA last week Monday by the university’s security men.
Speaking with reporters in Akure, ASUU National President Dr. Nasir Fagge said Mimiko’s action showed that he does not tolerate opposition.
Faggae, who was accompanied by 14 ASUU branch chairmen, alleged that the VC, on many occasions, condemned ASUU’s activities and aims to ban unionism in AAUA.
ASUU levelled 18 infractions against the VC, including the ban of ASUU vehicles in the university; refusal to pay the five-month outstanding salary of ASUU members in disregard of the non-victimisation clause in the resolutions reached on the suspension of the July-December, 2013 strike; arbitrary disengagement of ASUU members on the grounds of “reorganisation”; introduction of strange criteria for promotion being applied retroactively to ensure that only those who enjoyed his alleged blessing could scale promotion hurdles to the next cadre; irregular appointments of professors without the existence of Appointment and Promotion Committee, among others.
Faggae said: “The story of the assault of January 27 deserves special mention in view of the lies that followed. On that fateful day, a delegation of ASUU-NEC, led by the Vice-President, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, visited the branch to address its congress.
“The first batch of the delegation got there in two union vehicles belonging to the union’s branches in the University of Ibadan (UI) and the Benue State University around 8:15am. These two vehicles were checked in and given the pass tallies. The team proceeded to the union’s secretariat, where members of the executive committee were waiting to receive them.
“The delegation proceeded with the meeting. About an hour later, a team of the university’s internal security men, called Sheriff Deputies, swooped on the secretariat and deflated the tyres of the two vehicles that brought the visiting team.
“Their reason was that the ASUU team came into the university without authorisation. They claimed that there was a law forbidding ASUU vehicles from entering the campus. ASUU demanded that the security men produce evidence of the so-called law, but some of the Sheriff Deputies pounced on the union’s branch chairperson, Dr. Busuyi Mekusi, and former Ondo State House of Assembly Speaker Bolarinwa and molested them.
“The acting chief security officer later came to the ASUU Secretariat to apologise for the overzealous act of the Sherriff Deputies, but he acknowledged that there was a directive by the AAUA management not to allow ASUU vehicles from other branches into the campus.”
However, the Registrar, Mr. R.B Olotu, said the visiting ASUU members refused to submit themselves for routine security checks and attacked the security men.
