It is an unfolding drama. It began last Monday and the dramatis personae were: The Vice-Chancellor, Lagos State University (LASU), Prof John Oladapo Obafunwa, and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian University (SSANU), LASU chapter. At the height of the friction, SSANU leader Comrade Oseni Saheed alleged that the university’s management was after his life.
On the fateful Monday, when both parties looked each other in the face, it took the intervention of some principal officers of the university to douse the growing tension.
It was gathered that SSANU members had, as usual, gone around the school to picket the offices of some of their colleagues who were being compelled by the university management to work despite the union’s three-month-old strike over the institution’s “No vacancy, no promotion” policy.
It was alleged that when the picketing train got some key SSANU members in the Vice-Chancellor’s office, Obafunwa walked up to Oseni and their conversation degenerated into pandemonium.
“He (Obafunwa) told me I had overstepped my bounds and he was going to use all his powers to deal with me. He also threatened to use the state powers against me. But as a union leader, I am only doing my legitimate duty, and there is no reason the management should coerce us to work. ASUU was on strike for nearly six months and management never coerced any of their members to work until their resumption.
“We have every reason to be on strike and the management must respect our decision. But for the vice-chancellor to now resort to threats is worrisome. Those words he used were expensive and it’s like my life is under threat,” Oseni said.
Oseni explained that SSANU is waiting for the resolution by a committee set up by Lagos State Government to look into the union’s grievances before calling off its strike.
But the head of the university’s Information department, Dr Sola Fosudo, who said “nobody was threatening anybody,” explained that there is no basis for SSANU’s agitation as all their grievances had been addressed except the ‘no vacancy, no promotion’ measure.
Fosudo told newsmen that the management urged their sister union – the Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) – not to go on strike and it complied but SSANU back-pedaled, noting: “Their (SSANU’s) action is not civil at all…If SSANU is on strike, does it mean the whole system should be grounded? That is not civil. The height of it all is that recently they now go about raining curses on management each time they protest.”
On the ‘no vacancy no promotion’ measure, he said: “What I know is that the Council is working on the issue. Even the Pro-Chancellor has called the unions to address them. The management is not resting and soon, there will be resolution that will be favourable to all.” Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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