Wednesday, January 28, 2015
LASU! Fresh Crisis Brews As ERC, JAF Moves Against Management, LASG
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To say that the peace which have been enjoyed in Lagos State University is that of a graveyard is putting words mildly as BlackBox Nigeria can confirm that the Lagos owned citadel is on the verge of witnessing another round of crisis due to what actors have described as wanton despotic activities of the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Dapo Obafunwa, victimisation of lecturers and students, interference in students union activities leading to the indefinite postponement of union elections amongst others.
In a mail sent to BBN by the Education Rights Campaign, the school management is accused of numerous wrong doings which include; the indefinite postponement of Students Union Elections, the withdrawal of the Ph.D certificates of the Chairman of Lasu Chapter of ASUU and 18 others, the continuous persecution of a leading Presidential candidate who participated actively in agitations against tuition fee increment among several other sundry issues.
It was discovered that the ASUU Chairman; Dr. Idris Adekunle and others affected were asked to submit their Ph.D certificates due to an administrative problem on the part of the school management. It would be recalled that the Lecturer's union actively participated in the call which eventually led to the reversal of the outrageous school fees by the state Governor; Barr. Babatunde Fashola.
The ERC Statement also mirrored in on the plight of a certain Adeyemi Onikoro who allegedly led the #SaveLasu struggle which campaigned against the outrageous increment leading to a social media campaign as well as protests in various parts of the state. The statement disclosed that Onikoro, a student of the Faculty of Law is being witch hunted for his participation in the struggle.
"The truth of the matter is that only the University administration has any real problems with Adeyemi Onikoro's candidacy. It was the University administration once it realised that Adeyemi Onikoro was a popular candidate in the election with a chance to win that decided to unearth and reactivate a disciplinary action against him for allegedly participating in one of the early protests against LASU fee hike as far back as September 12, 2012 when he was just in 100 level! LASU fee was hiked in September 2011 and Adeyemi Onikoro as a 100 level student played roles in the struggles that broke out against the fees in 2012. For this reason, he was dragged before an investigative panel in 2012 on trumped up charges of participating in an "illegal protest" and of disrupting a GNS examination. The panel sat on the case from late 2012 into 2013 and from then on nothing more was heard about it until now when the University saw an opportunity to use it to stop Adeyemi Onikoro's ambition for the presidency of the Students Union.
When the investigative panel sat on the case in 2012 and 2013, the DSA Prof. Kabir Akinyemi appeared before it to testify against Adeyemi Onikoro. Now in 2014, the case was transferred to the Student Disciplinary Committee. When Adeyemi Onikoro appeared before the committee, he discovered to his chagrin that his chief prosecutor the DSA Prof. Kabir Akinyemi is now the Vice Chairman of the Disciplinary committee. Interestingly all the time the committee sat on the case, the substantive chairman, Prof. Senapone Bakre who is the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academics), was conveniently away allowing the DSA Prof. Kabir Akinyemi to chair the process. Now there is no better example of an undemocratic and unfair trial in which an individual, in this case the DSA, becomes the judge, prosecutor and witness in a case in which he as much as his employers, the University administration, have interest. It was therefore not surprising when on December 2, 2014 this committee recommended Adeyemi Onikoro to be rusticated for one academic session on trumped up charges only the DSA out of all members of the University community could prove he committed. This completely unfair verdict is now awaiting the approval of the University Senate after which Adeyemi Onikoro's studentship would be suspended," the statement read in part.
The ERC further accused the Management of also victimising members of various staff unions on campus including the Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) and members of the Senior Staff Union of Nigerian Universities (SSANU).
JAF CALLS FOR PROTEST
In a similar development, the Joint Action Front is today leading a major protest across Lagos State to call on the Government to put in other all the anomalies currently being witnessed in LASU.
A short message received by BBN read...
"Join d MASS PROTEST on Wed, 28 Jan 2015.
Protest March starts from Nigeria Civil Service Union, CBD, Alausa-Ikeja @ 9am.
JAF Declares Support 4 LASU Students, Lecturers & Non-Academic Workers to:
#CAll OBAFUNWA(LASU VC) to Order!
#RESIST Administrative impunity!!
#STOP Obafuwa's Victimisatn of Students, Lecturers & Non-Academic Workers!!
#SAVE LASU from OBAFUNWA's interference in Unions' affairs & Destructn of Academic Freedom. Cde-Aremu, JAF Sec."
Today's protest comes on the heels of various agitations by several actors in the University community who have described the administration of the Vice Chancellor as an authoritarian style of leadership. BBN shall keep you abreast of happenings as it unfolds...
To say that the peace which have been enjoyed in Lagos State University is that of a graveyard is putting words mildly as BlackBox Nigeria can confirm that the Lagos owned citadel is on the verge of witnessing another round of crisis due to what actors have described as wanton despotic activities of the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Dapo Obafunwa, victimisation of lecturers and students, interference in students union activities leading to the indefinite postponement of union elections amongst others.
In a mail sent to BBN by the Education Rights Campaign, the school management is accused of numerous wrong doings which include; the indefinite postponement of Students Union Elections, the withdrawal of the Ph.D certificates of the Chairman of Lasu Chapter of ASUU and 18 others, the continuous persecution of a leading Presidential candidate who participated actively in agitations against tuition fee increment among several other sundry issues.
It was discovered that the ASUU Chairman; Dr. Idris Adekunle and others affected were asked to submit their Ph.D certificates due to an administrative problem on the part of the school management. It would be recalled that the Lecturer's union actively participated in the call which eventually led to the reversal of the outrageous school fees by the state Governor; Barr. Babatunde Fashola.
The ERC Statement also mirrored in on the plight of a certain Adeyemi Onikoro who allegedly led the #SaveLasu struggle which campaigned against the outrageous increment leading to a social media campaign as well as protests in various parts of the state. The statement disclosed that Onikoro, a student of the Faculty of Law is being witch hunted for his participation in the struggle.
"The truth of the matter is that only the University administration has any real problems with Adeyemi Onikoro's candidacy. It was the University administration once it realised that Adeyemi Onikoro was a popular candidate in the election with a chance to win that decided to unearth and reactivate a disciplinary action against him for allegedly participating in one of the early protests against LASU fee hike as far back as September 12, 2012 when he was just in 100 level! LASU fee was hiked in September 2011 and Adeyemi Onikoro as a 100 level student played roles in the struggles that broke out against the fees in 2012. For this reason, he was dragged before an investigative panel in 2012 on trumped up charges of participating in an "illegal protest" and of disrupting a GNS examination. The panel sat on the case from late 2012 into 2013 and from then on nothing more was heard about it until now when the University saw an opportunity to use it to stop Adeyemi Onikoro's ambition for the presidency of the Students Union.
When the investigative panel sat on the case in 2012 and 2013, the DSA Prof. Kabir Akinyemi appeared before it to testify against Adeyemi Onikoro. Now in 2014, the case was transferred to the Student Disciplinary Committee. When Adeyemi Onikoro appeared before the committee, he discovered to his chagrin that his chief prosecutor the DSA Prof. Kabir Akinyemi is now the Vice Chairman of the Disciplinary committee. Interestingly all the time the committee sat on the case, the substantive chairman, Prof. Senapone Bakre who is the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academics), was conveniently away allowing the DSA Prof. Kabir Akinyemi to chair the process. Now there is no better example of an undemocratic and unfair trial in which an individual, in this case the DSA, becomes the judge, prosecutor and witness in a case in which he as much as his employers, the University administration, have interest. It was therefore not surprising when on December 2, 2014 this committee recommended Adeyemi Onikoro to be rusticated for one academic session on trumped up charges only the DSA out of all members of the University community could prove he committed. This completely unfair verdict is now awaiting the approval of the University Senate after which Adeyemi Onikoro's studentship would be suspended," the statement read in part.
The ERC further accused the Management of also victimising members of various staff unions on campus including the Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) and members of the Senior Staff Union of Nigerian Universities (SSANU).
JAF CALLS FOR PROTEST
In a similar development, the Joint Action Front is today leading a major protest across Lagos State to call on the Government to put in other all the anomalies currently being witnessed in LASU.
A short message received by BBN read...
"Join d MASS PROTEST on Wed, 28 Jan 2015.
Protest March starts from Nigeria Civil Service Union, CBD, Alausa-Ikeja @ 9am.
JAF Declares Support 4 LASU Students, Lecturers & Non-Academic Workers to:
#CAll OBAFUNWA(LASU VC) to Order!
#RESIST Administrative impunity!!
#STOP Obafuwa's Victimisatn of Students, Lecturers & Non-Academic Workers!!
#SAVE LASU from OBAFUNWA's interference in Unions' affairs & Destructn of Academic Freedom. Cde-Aremu, JAF Sec."
Today's protest comes on the heels of various agitations by several actors in the University community who have described the administration of the Vice Chancellor as an authoritarian style of leadership. BBN shall keep you abreast of happenings as it unfolds...
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