The Academic Staff Union of Universities (Calabar Zone), which includes Ebonyi State University, Abia State University, Akwa Ibom State University, Alex Ekwueme Federal University, University of Calabar, Cross River University of Technology, and the University of Uyo, has protested the victimisation of its members in various universities across the country, including EBSU, Kogi State University, and Lagos State University.

The Union stated that its members are still being denied both their statutory and legal entitlements in some of the nation’s universities, adding that this trend has subjected lecturers to undue victimisation, intimidation, and deprivation.

Members of the Union in the Calabar Zone protested their colleagues’ plight in Abakaliki, the capital of Ebonyi State, on Monday.

In a communiqué issued at the end of the protest, they lamented that their members were owed for several months and, aside from undue maltreatment, added that “those who raised the alarm over the untoward situation were arrested and prosecuted.”

The communiqué, titled “Lecturers’ Victimisation Day” and signed by Comrades Happiness Uduk, ASUU-Calabar Zone; Slessor Mbah, Chairperson, ASUU-ABSU; Inyang Udosen, Chairperson, ASUU-AKSU; Ikechuku Igwenyi, Chairperson, ASUU-EBSU; Patrick Ushi, Chairperson, ASUU-CRUTECH; Peter Ubi, Chairperson, ASUU-UniCal; and Opeyemi Olajide, Chairperson, ASUU-UniUyo, maintained that the suspension, harassment, and intimidation of union members were crippling the fortunes of university education in the country.

It read in part, “We are here to show solidarity with our EBSU branch and protest the unwarranted victimisation of our members in the branch. We are pained by the intimidation and victimisation of our members who are fighting for positive outcomes in Nigerian universities.

“We are here to tell the world that enough is enough. As an irrepressible voice of conscience, ASUU is a critical stakeholder in the university system, and yet it appears our Union leaders were sent to the market with salt, only for the rainmaker to be consulted to send down the rains.

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“It certainly has rained in several of our branches, particularly Ebonyi State University, EBSU, Abakaliki; Kogi State University Anyigba; and Lagos State University, prompting the National Executive Council to declare today as Victimised Lecturers’ Day. This will be observed annually going forward. We will highlight some of the issues in the other two branches and spend some time on the EBSU branch.”

The Union added that some of its members were illegally dismissed.

“The ‘KSU 120’, as it has come to be known, comprises 120 academic staff of Kogi State University who have been illegally dismissed for over seven years, from 2017 to date, for participating in a legitimate action demanding better welfare for members, including the payment of backlogs of salaries and allowances, proper funding, university autonomy, and academic freedom.

“These members have experienced untold hardship and devastation, including the truncation of professorial pursuits, three evictions from their accommodation, and the stoppage of salaries and emoluments. We can only imagine what these men and women, as well as their families, have had to endure in their quest for better and improved working conditions, which should ordinarily be a given.

“Although some of the victimised members, with support from the Union, have obtained additional degrees during this period, Comrades David T. Adamo, Noah Daluba, John Iyere, and Timothy Oshadare are no longer with us. They passed away during this ongoing imbroglio. What a shame! We mourn our fallen heroes and pray that their embattled souls find rest in the bosom of our Lord and join us from the other side in the fight for justice for those still being victimised in KSU and our other branches,” the statement further reads.

They also called for the recall of their sacked members, saying: “Compatriots, we are saddened by the way university administrations and visitors to universities manage public universities as though they were private and personal enterprises, without recourse to procedures and due process.

“The Union frowns at this and demands, as contained in the White Paper of the Visitation Panel to KSU, that the sacked 120 members be reinstated forthwith. We also call on the Visitor to KSU to address this matter swiftly and ensure the immediate reinstatement of our illegally sacked members to restore peace and industrial harmony at Kogi State University, KSU, Anyigba.”