Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, National President, Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), has debunked the insinuation in some quarters that the union now has a splinter group.
Ogunyemi made the clarification when he featured on the News Agency of Nigeria Forum in Abuja on Sunday.
“I do not believe that there is a faction in ASUU. What you see that is playing out is the expression of misgivings by some of our members who are dissatisfied with the sanctions meted out to them for violating the provisions of our constitution.
“And you will find the largest concentration at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife; and in that university, you will also find that we still control up to 60 per cent or more of the membership.
“And if you leave Ile-Ife and go to other campuses where they are pronouncing that they want to join one group or the other, you cannot count more than five in those universities.
“That tells you that the group we are talking about just exists in the air, that group is not on ground,’’ he said.
According to him, University of Ilorin and the Federal University, Lokoja, are now fully back in ASUU and so cannot be listed as those opposing the union.
“I visited the place and I met with a few people that said they were dissatisfied with the way the union was being run in the branch.
“After engaging them, they said that they were ready to join the union and so they are going back to ASUU.’’
Ogunyemi noted that the association had always engaged dissatisfied members to address their grievances and work towards moving the union forward.
He said that the union was currently resolving the crisis at Obafemi Awolowo University, adding that the crisis between members of the union in the institution would soon be resolved.
“What we do in our union is to engage them; we do not write anybody off, even those we suspended or expelled.
“We give window for them to appeal. Even at Ife now, there is a process of engagement that has been ongoing for some time, and we believe that crisis will soon be a thing of the past,’’ he said.
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