• Varsity forms new union
The local branch of the Academic Staff Union of Universities of Obafemi Awolowo University (ASUU-OAU) has pulled out of the national body.
It also formed a new association, following prolonged faceoff between the national and local chapter of the union.
The OAU chapter’s decision to pull out of the national body was taken at a congress on February 12, which rejected the resolut
ions of ASUU’s National Executive Council (ASUU-NEC) meeting on the face-off between it and the parent body.
It was learnt that the congress decided “to constitute itself into a branch that is totally independent of NEC, adopt appropriate name and open a new branch account for the check-off dues of its members in this regards”.
This is contained in the local branch’s resolution signed by the chairman of its caretaker committee, Dr Niyi Sunmonu.
Last years, 732 of the 1,371 OAU academic workers wrote the university management to stop payment of their check-off dues to the national body in protest against the way the latter handled the branch’s crisis.
Other reasons given by OAU’s branch to form a new union include the alleged unilateral removal of the elected treasurer by ASUU national president and the alleged transfer of N11 million from OAU branch account to ASUU national account.
The congress noted that the removal of the duly elected treasurer and transfer of the money prompted majority of the members to request that the deduction of their check-off dues to ASUU national body be stopped.
Also, the decision of ASUU’s NEC to accept the suspended and contentious result of the vice chancellor selection and the rejection of the caretaker committee to run the affairs of the union, after the presiding officers had abandoned the congress midway on Thursday, October 20, 2016, which he conveyed, was another reason they pulled out.
ASUU’s OAU has been at loggerhead with the national body over the constitution of a caretaker committee, following the sack of the Dr. Caleb Aborisade-led executives by the congress.
This was the fallout of the cancelled vice chancellor selection by the Federal Government.
ASUU’s national body rejected the sack of Aborisade-led exco but the local branch insisted on Dr. Niyi Summonu-led caretaker committee and stopped the remittance of check-off dues to the national body.
Reacting to ASUU’s NEC meeting of February 3 and 4, which expelled three OAU branch caretaker committee members and the suspension of 13 others, the council rejected the sanctions and passed a vote of confidence on Dr. Summonu-led caretaker committee.
According to the congress resolutions, it reaffirmed its total, unalloyed and unflinching confidence in the caretaker committee and those sanctioned.
The aggrieved OAU academic workers also resolved to constitute an electoral committee to conduct the election of its executives within two weeks and appoint a five-member electoral committee.
Another major decision was the composition of a constitution-drafting committee for the branch for which three members were appointed.
The branch also decided to write the vice chancellor to stop the deduction of check-off dues for lecturers at OAU due to the information that the bursar failed to implement the written requests by some members that the deduction of their check-off dues be stopped.
It was also gathered that ASUU-NEC suspended Aborisade for six months for allegedly misrepresenting NEC, while the Akure zonal coordinator, Dr. Alex Odiyi, was issued a warning letter.
