Victoria Mbangwa
The Governor of Lagos state, Babajide Sanwo-Olu is facing growing pressure from the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to reinstate five dismissed Lagos State University (LASU) lecturers.
Despite being exonerated by the LASU Governing Council, these lecturers remain in limbo, and Sanwo-Olu’s inaction is drawing increasing scrutiny.
This was made known during the Organized Protest on Tuesday, by ASUU’s Lagos zone at LASU’s Ojo campus, where union members, alongside colleagues from other universities, rallied to demand justice.
The coordinator of the zone, Prof Adelaja Odukoya, while speaking with press men before the rally, explain that the five lecturers, who where dismissed where all executive members of ASUU-LASU, and they were dismissed between 2017 and 2019 following internal charges initiated by former LASU Vice-Chancellor, Prof.
Lanre Fagbohun. He said, “In 2018, Drs. Tony Dansu, Adeolu Oyekan, and Oluwakemi Aboderin-Shonibare sought legal action to challenge trials initiated by their university, fearing illegal dismissal similar to what Drs. Isaac Oyewumi and Adebowale Adeyemi-Suenu experienced in 2017.
“The court ruled that the university had no authority to act against union officers under the Freedom of Information Act and other laws.
However, the court refrained from judicial review, as no harm had yet occurred, but urged both parties to adhere to legal protocols.”Despite this, the university proceeded with the trials and dismissed the ASUU-LASU leaders.”
Odukoya further expressed frustration over the governor’s refusal to act on the council’s decision, raising concerns about political interference
He said, “Since then, ASUU has made several appeals to Governor Sanwo-Olu, the Visitor to LASU, to release the White Paper from the visitation report and lift the unjust embargo on the reinstatement of the wrongfully dismissed comrades, as exonerated by the Governing Council.
“Unfortunately, the governor has remained indifferent. Key questions now arise: What are the ASUU leaders’ offences against Governor Sanwo-Olu, particularly at LASU? Whose interests is the governor protecting by preventing these individuals from returning to their posts?
“How does this unjust denial of livelihood for ASUU-LASU leaders align with the governor’s labour-friendly stance? Even if the White Paper is relevant to their reinstatement, why has the governor failed to release it two years after the Visitation Panel’s report?
“Is the Visitor attempting to shield the actions of certain individuals implicated in the report? Isn’t it unjust to block the Governing Council’s decision while Lanre Fagbohun has quietly returned to LASU without the panel’s verdict on his tenure?”
