The meeting between the delegation of the Academic Staff Union of Nigeria Universities and Ebonyi State Governor, David Umahi, on Tuesday, ended in a deadlock.
Prof. Emmanuel Osedeke, National Vice President (Academics) of ASUU, said the delegation was disappointed with the reactions of the state governor, who is a visitor to the university.
“We came to discuss issues such as university’s Governing Council, which was dissolved about two months ago and has not been re-constituted
“This is the reason for the deadlock as the visitor was busy talking about the university’s ASUU chairman, whom he calls a boy and claims to be insulting him (Umahi).”
Recall that the Ebonyi State University Chapter of the ASUU and the state government had since last year been enmeshed with faceoff over alleged non-payment of the varsity staff salaries and highhandedness by the government.
Osedeke, however, said the ASUU delegation would discuss the development at its congress on Wednesday (today) and brief its national body for decisions to be taken.
The ASUU national officer also condemned the alleged threat to the life of the EBSU-ASUU Chapter’s Chairman, Dr. Ikechukwu Igwenyi, saying this was the height of wickedness a government could unleash on hardworking civil servants.
“The Visitor (Governor Umahi’s) also repeated his threats on the university’s ASUU chairman, claiming that he (ASUU chairman) would be held responsible for anything that happens. This is very uncivil and not the way to go about this kind of situation.
“The governor went ahead to call the EBSU ASUU Chairman a small boy. This underscores how the governor regards and treats people and we can’t take it,” Osadeke said.
The Commissioner for Education in the state, Dr. Onyebuchi Chima, however, said the governor did not threaten anyone and did not back out from the negotiations.
“The delegation should approach the university’s leadership to get the correct facts before meeting with its Visitor (the Governor),” Chime said.
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