There is a strong conviction that the issue of the union leaders remains unresolved due to nothing, but ego and the interest(s) of some powerful individuals… This issue of five and seven years is long overdue for a final resolution… Lagos State Government and the LASU authorities should put an end to this shenanigan… The public needs to join in the public outcry and advocacy for justice, because justice delayed is as good as justice denied.
Between September 2017 and September 2019, five Executive Council members of the Lagos State University branch of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU-LASU) were dismissed by the previous Governing Council on the basis of frivolous charges brought against them by the administration of Professor Lanre Fagbohun. These officers of the Union are:
i. Dr Isaac Akinloye Oyewumi (chairman)
ii. Dr Adebowale Adeyemi-Suenu (vice chairman)
iii. Dr Anthony Dansu (secretary)
iv. Dr Adeolu Oluwaseyi Oyekan (assistant secretary)
v. Dr Oluwakemi Adebisi Aboderin-Shonibare (treasurer)
The five cases of dismissal have been in the Appeal Court since 2017 and 2019.
In 2021, the new University administration under the Vice Chancellorship of Professor Ibiyemi Olatunji-Bello asked for an out-of-court settlement of the cases. This was followed by the reversal of the five dismissals, and reinstatement of the five officers by the new University Governing Council under the chairmanship of Sir David Sunmoni on the 23rd of February, 2023. The reversal and the reinstatement were as result of the reports of two committees that vindicated the union leaders.
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Less than 24 hours after the Council resolution, Lagos State Government forced the University Governing Council to put the implementation of its decision on the union leaders on hold. This was on the premise that Council should wait for the release of government’s white paper on the 2021 LASU visitation panel. It’s over two years now and nothing has happened.
It is of note that Professor Lanre Fagbohun, the immediate past vice chancellor (an Awori man from Akesan), whose major issues are (expectedly) to dominate the visitation panel’s white paper, has been employed back in the university without recourse to the release of the white paper.
The current Bursar of the University, Mr Babatunde Said Olayinka (an Ijebu man from Epe), whose issues were also part of those considered by the visitation panel ended his first term, and was considered for the second term without recourse to the release of the white paper
Mr Olayinka Amuni, the immediate past Registrar of the university (another Ijebu man from Epe), who was suspended from the University by the Governor due to his negative roles in the process of appointing a new Vice Chancellor, has been recalled and reabsorbed into the university without recourse to the white paper.
Dr (Mrs) S. Udegbe (an Edo woman), who was dismissed but the university had an out-of-court settlement with, has also been reabsorbed into the system, even as her own issues too were expected to be part of the same white paper.
There is a strong conviction that the issue of the union leaders remains unresolved due to nothing, but ego and the interest(s) of some powerful individuals.
This issue of five and seven years is long overdue for a final resolution.
Lagos State Government and the LASU authorities should put an end to this shenanigan.
The public needs to join in the public outcry and advocacy for justice, because justice delayed is as good as justice denied.
Sewude Adeyinka Amosu is the the Nukongan (Asiwaju) of Ajido Kingdom.
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