Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, president of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), has denied calling state universities “quack institutions.”
Osodeke angered many when he is said to have called state university students who returned for their studies despite the ongoing ASUU strike “quacks.”
Osodeke said on Tuesday on Channels TV’s Politics Today that he was misunderstood.
The ASUU president said, “What I said was very clear. The person on the seat asked me a question that your members in three universities have abandoned you and I told them that we have a problem with LASU because the university sacked all the leaders of ASUU in the branch. That’s why they are not on strike.
“In KWASU, they are not even our members yet and they are not meeting the standard, and that in Osun they were punished for breaking our strike and they are all part of the problem.
“That’s exactly what I said and therefore our union there is not running well. That’s why I used that word, they are not running well. That the universities are not allowing our union to run well. I didn’t say state universities. Then I mentioned three again: Ekiti State University, Kaduna State University and Yobe State University.
“In those universities, although the management and the government have forced universities to announce resumption, our members said they are not teaching. That’s what I said about those three universities, but I’m surprised that they are busy writing all sorts of things. That’s exactly the word I used,” he said.
The ASUU president accused the media of twisting his words to make them look controversial.
Osodeke also spoke about Ekiti State University, saying “In Ekiti, the vice chancellor went to call a meeting on Saturday, it’s not a working day, connected with the lecturers, the deans and HODs, that body is not an organ of a university anywhere, to call for a meeting and announce resumption. It’s the senate of the university that announces resumption.
“That is the standard, so they should know that what they are doing is not correct. It’s the senate of the university that has the right by the law to announce resumption, not a committee called on a Saturday by VC.”
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