The Benin Zone of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), has decried alleged systemic oppression and persecution of its members in some universities, being perpetrated by institutional powers and state authorities.

The union warned that the development is antithetical to industrial peace and harmony in the universities, given that the egregious victimization undermines the very fabric of academic freedom and harmony.

“Enough is enough of the victimization, illegal and wrongful sack, repression, deliberate seizure of salaries, witch-hunting and persecution of our members in Lagos State University (LASU), Ojoo; Kogi State University (KSU), Anyingba; Ebonyi State University (EBSU), Abakaliki; Ambrose Alli University (AAU), Ekpoma; Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO), and Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University (COOU), Igbariam,” the Union maintained yesterday.

In a press release to mark the Union’s maiden Victimized Lecturers’ Day in Benin City, the Edo State capital, the Zonal Coordinator of ASUU, Benin Zone, Prof. Monday Lewis Igbafen, said that in these universities, “ while some of our members have been illegally sacked, others have had their salaries and promotion withheld for unjustifiable reasons.”

The Union had at its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of 17th-18th August, 2024 at the University of Ibadan, resolved and adopted September 10 of every year as a date or day to hold rallies and organize solidarity activities across university campuses to draw national and global attention to the hardship and suffering of victimized lecturers in Nigerian public universities.

“We condemn the unjustifiable sackings, salary seizures, and repression of our colleagues in LASU, KSU, EBSU, AAUE, FUTO, and COOU. The silence of the state governments and university administrations is complicity in this injustice,” it said.

The Zonal ASUU coordinator said, “On this inaugural Victimized Lecturers’ Day, we stand in solidarity with our besieged members, demanding an end to this tyranny. We call upon the authorities to cease their assault on academic freedom and reinstate our wrongfully terminated colleagues with immediate effect.”

Prof. Igbafen insisted that the perpetuation of victimization imperils the very essence of our universities, transforming them into sites of oppression rather than sanctuaries of knowledge.

“We implore the federal and state governments to intervene decisively, lest this cancer of repression metastasize, irreparably damaging our academic landscape.

“In particular, the ASUU Zonal Coordinator bemoaned the suffering being experienced by the 5 victimized/sacked union leaders in LASU and demanded their immediate reinstatement without further delay with the payment of their accrued entitlements.

The Union also condemned in strong terms the Lagos and Edo State Governments for their refusal to release reports of the visitation panel to their universities in 2020 and 2021, respectively to mitigate the high-level of victimization, repression and the suffering of our sacked members in these universities.

Prof. Igbafen who took a swipe at the university administrations at EBSU, AAUE, FUTO and COOU with their state and federal governments, insisted that their actions and inactions had inflicted untold hardship on lecturers and union leaders as a result of the indignities of repression, deliberate seizure of salaries and intimidation.

He called for the immediate stop to the continuing victimization of ASUU members.

The Union warned against delay by the Federal and State Governments to address the problem of victimization and persecution of members in the affected universities and urged the state universities and authorities in FUTO to give their universities a breath of fresh air by taking urgent steps to resolve all lingering matters of illegal/wrongful sack, victimization and deliberate seizure of salaries.

The Benin zone of ASUU comprises University of Benin (UNIBEN), Benin City; Ambrose Alli University (AAU), Ekpoma; Adekunle Ajasin University (AAU), Akungba-Akoko; Olusegun Agagu University of Science and Technology (OAUSTECT), Okitipupa; Delta State University (DELSU), Abraka; Federal University of Petroleum Resources (FUPRE), Effurun; University of Delta (UNIDEL), Agbor; Delta State University of Science and Technology (DSUST), Ozoro and Dennis Osadebe University (DOU), Asaba. (Daily Independent)

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