KASU and KWASU attack ASUU president over remark about “quacks”

Mr. Osodeke’s comments, according to KASU spokesman Adamu Bargo, were “irresponsible, unguarded, misleading, and derogatory.”

The authorities of Kaduna State University (KASU) and Kwara State University (KWASU) have rejected ASUU President Emmanuel Osodeke’s comments that some universities that have not joined the ongoing strike are “quacks” and “irrelevant.”

Mr Osodeke, a professor, made the comment during a live interview on Thursday, August 26, where he maintained that reputable institutions were involved in the industrial action called for the revitalization of the university system.

“So don’t bring up those examples.” They are irrelevant,” Mr Osodeke told interviewers, pointing out that KWASU and other institutions are not participating in the ASUU strike.

“Is there a strike at the University of Ibadan?” Is there a strike at UNN? Is there a strike at ABU? Is the BUK on strike? Is the Maiduguri University on strike? Let us discuss important universities rather than quacks.” The leader of the lecturers’ labor union retorted.

In an angry rebuttal, Adamu Bargo, a KASU spokesman, called Mr Osodeke’s remarks “irresponsible, unguarded, misleading, and derogatory.”

Mr Bargo insisted that KASU was a new-generation state-owned university founded 18 years ago on the “ethical determination” of its founding fathers to maintain higher academic standards.

“KASU is home to the world’s fourth best polymer chemist, and our lecturers have received grants both locally and internationally and are highly regarded.”

“KASU graduates are rated among the best in the world and are receiving scholarships from all over the country and the world,” Mr. Bargo said in a statement.

“KASU has ASUU members, and it is unfortunate that the union’s President calls them quacks while collecting monthly check-off fees from their salaries.”

“Doesn’t this provide good reason for every reasonable academic staff member at the University to withdraw from the Union because of this labeling and stereotyping?”

Similarly, KWASU administration took issue with the ASUU president’s remarks. According to Saeedat Aliyu, the university’s spokesperson, the institution was founded on the vision of advancing the frontiers of knowledge for the good of society and is not a quack.

“KWASU Management regards these statements as unworthy of an academic of Prof. Osodeke’s alleged status,” said a KWASU spokesperson.

Ms Aliyu described the labor leader’s remarks as “bullying, reckless, uncalled for, and a denigration of the status he occupies as national head of the Nigerian Union of Academic Staff.”

“We are the only university in Nigeria going green in her thinking and activities as proactive measures to save the environment,” the image maker said of the Malete-based institution.

KWASU is “the first institution in Nigeria to mount Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering as a forward-thinking move to develop human capacity for the nation’s aeronautic and astronautic needs,” she added.

Ms Aliyu, therefore, demanded that Mr. Osodeke retract his “abominable” statement and issue an immediate public apology to KWASU.

Most Nigerian public universities have been closed since February 24, when the national leadership of ASUU declared a strike in response to the government’s failure to implement a 2009 agreement reached with the union.

An attempt to reach an agreement fell through last week when union and government representatives failed to shift ground on their demands, particularly on payment of salaries during the strike period.

(NAN)