Lorine Emenike
The management of the University of Port Harcourt has sealed the school’s secretariat of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU.
Dr Austin Sado the ASUU chairman of UniPort said the school management does not have the right to lock up ASUU’s secretariat because the secretariat was built with the union’s contribution.
This comes after protesting students disrupted a scheduled press briefing by the union over the sacking of their colleague, Prof. Frank Ugiomoh and the federal government’s proposed Integrated Payment and Personnel Information System.
Recall that the University’s branch of Congress of University Academics (CONUA), on Tuesday, at a press briefing, accused the ASUU chair of high-handedness.
They accused the ASUU chair of complicity in the sacking of the professor and suspension of Professor Anthonia A. Okerengwo.
Also Read: Extra: Student expelled for impregnating female lecturer
According to them: “We observed that higher education system in Nigeria is on the verge of a dangerous precipice and there is an urgent need for all the stakeholders to adopt deliberate measures towards salvaging the system from the topsy-turvydom that has rendered it comatose and dysfunctional.
“The irritating frequency and reckless abandon with which some ASUU leaders at both the national level and some branches across the country incite their members to embark on strike actions as a means of resolving some industrial dispute between the union and government smack of ineptitude and lack of patriotism.
“Academics have a huge responsibility to contribute to the revitalization of the system through prudent management of available resources, patriotism, diligent service, commitment to ensuring a stable academic calendar and improvement in the quality and volume of service delivered.
Also Read: My wife sleeps with my younger brother, man tells court
“Also, the congress reviewed and observed much crisis that has rocked the university in the past three years have been orchestrated by the current chairman of ASUU, in the person of Dr Austen Sado whose stock in a trade since he assumed office has been to destabilize the smooth running of the institution for his own pecuniary interest.
“The following are some of his mischievous acts: he summarily and unconstitutionally suspended the immediate past chairperson (IPC) of ASUU, Professor Anthonia A. Okerengwo, as an ex-officio member of the executive committee of the University of Port Harcourt branch of ASUU on a spurious and trumped-up allegation of violation of ASUU strike.
“Also, the University of Port Harcourt ASUU branch chairman, Dr Austen Sado mishandled and exhibited a breach of due process in the matter of the suspension and subsequent termination of the appointment of Prof. Frank Ugiomoh.
“First, he interfered with the disciplinary process in the said matter by making parallel presentations of the matter in-branch congress of ASUU while the matter was still being investigated and heard by properly constituted committees of the university”
