ONE WEEK, ONE TROUBLE

Thirty-year-old Lagos State University is yet to be free from trouble. Less than three weeks after members of the various unions in the institution chased away the Vice Chancellor, Prof John Obafunwa and his principal officers for not implementing their demands, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in the school has kicked against purported plans by the management to sack some of its members as soon as the school reopens.

In the last 10 months, peace has not been a common feature in the university as it has moved from one crisis to another, leading to the disruption of academic and administrative activities. During the period, two of the staff unions in the school passed a vote of no confidence on the VC.
Recently, ASUU said it had uncovered plans by the VC to sack some lecturers of the university. The body warned that it would resist such moves.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the union wishes to inform all stakeholders and the general public that the plan to use the Prof John Oladapo Obafunwa-led administration to sack our members after the recess shall be met with stiff resistance by the union,” ASUU-LASU warned in a statement.
The ongoing crisis rocking LASU took a dangerous dimension on Friday, March 27, after one of the union leaders was allegedly marked for attack by some cultists. Investigations by our correspondent revealed that ASUU-LASU Chairman, Dr. Idris, received information of the planned attack on him because of his involvement in the workers’ protest.
The planned attack on the unionist was the subject of discussion among staff and even students on campus. The management and a former ASUU-LASU treasurer who was suspended for anti-union activities were being fingered.
Following the information on the alleged planned attack and warning from colleagues, family members and friends to be security conscious, Dr. Adekunle Idris was said to have gone underground.
Expdonaloaded blog gathered that the alleged sponsored cult attack was to silence Dr. Idris who is seen by the management as the arrowhead of the workers agitation for the sack of Prof Obafunwa and the appointment of an acting VC for the institution.
In a swift reaction, Dr. Tajudeen Abayomi Olumoko, described the allegation of being used by the management to get cultists to attack ASUU-LASU chairman as character assassination, insisting that it was not possible for the university management to engage him for the dastardly act.
In a telephone interview, Dr. Olumoko, who laughed over the allegation, said he could not use students against any of his colleagues. He then asked: “What for and to achieve what purpose? I am a PhD holder of long standing. The management cannot use me for such purpose.”
He revealed that since the university was shut on Monday, March 23, 2015, he had not been on campus. “I have not been in school after the staff and students were asked to go on recess. It is pure character assassination. It is funny. It is not possible for management to use me for that. I know what is good.”
The suspended ASUU-LASU treasurer agreed that LASU workers’ demands were genuine but kicked against the agitation by the three staff unions for the VC to go without completing his tenure.
The embattled VC, Prof Obafunwa, did not respond to text messages sent to him seeking his reactions to the allegation making the round on campus that the university management planned to sponsor a cult attack on Dr. Idris.
Reacting to the union’s earlier demand for a visitation panel, the VC, Prof Obafunwa, said LASU had continued to move forward despite all attempts by a few individuals to disrupt normal academic activities for reasons best known to them.
In a text message in response to the allegations against his administration, Prof Obafunwa disclosed: “The train of transformation and repositioning of LASU is unstoppable. Even the students want a stable academic calendar, and of course, I will not negotiate that with anyone. I do not have time to waste on Dr. Idris or any form of distraction for that matter.”
Dr. Idrsi confirmed that he had gone underground for fear of the sponsored cult attack which he said was already in the public domain. He said he got hint of it before some staff warned him to be careful about it.
“The news of the attack is all over the campus. Several staff called me to be careful of my movement, alleging that the university management and some staff were planning to use cult guys to attack me. I have also taken the advice of my family, friend and colleagues and have gone into hiding for now,” he explained.
In the past weeks, the university has been shut even when the state government forcefully opened its gates. However, the university still looks like a ghost institution even as union officers kept vigil, monitoring the situation while the VC and his management team operates from outside the campus.
LASU witnessed a major crisis on Monday, March 16, 2015 when three staff unions staged a violent protest against Prof Obafunwa for his alleged failure to implement agreed demands. The workers protest stalled the Senate meeting meant to elect a new deputy VC (Academics) and Coconut Breaking Festival as part of the programme heralding the 20^th convocation ceremony.
The protesting unions, as early as 7.30am, shut the two gates leading into the institution. They used buses and heavy vehicles to block the entrance. The action led to a gridlock on both sides of the Lagos-Badagry Road for over 10 hours. For close to two hours, the VC and other principal officers could not gain access to their offices and had to trek from the Iba end of the gate escorted by armed policemen.
As soon as the protesting members of ASUU, Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and Non Academic Staff Union (NASU) spotted the VC and his management team, tension rose high, with the workers chanting anti-management songs.
Despite the presence of armed policemen and the Campus Marshall, the workers sang songs of protest against Obafunwa, urging him to pay them their outstanding arrears and then go.
Several attempts by the VC to address the protesting staff were rebuffed and the tension led to the staff pelting him, the two deputy VCs, registrar, bursar and the university librarian with sachets of water. Appeals by the registrar, Mr. Akin Lewis, for the staff to cease hostilities further aggravated the situation as more sachets were thrown in Obafunwa’s direction.
To avert an ugly situation based on the tension, the security personnel decided to act fast by moving the VC and his management out of the campus through the Iba gate. Even then, the staff pursued the team before he was whisked away in a police van.
ASUU-LASU chairman, Dr. Idris; SSANU-LASU chairman, Saheed Oseni and NASU-LASU leader, Albert Agosu, told Expdonaloaded blog that the protest was against bad leadership, victimisation of staff, non-payment of outstanding salary arrears, violation of due process, destruction of staff image in the media, withdrawal of PhD certificates of staff, and denial of letters to elected Governing Council and Senate members, among others.
On the way forward, Dr. Idris said the three staff unions expected the governor and visitor to LASU, Governor Babatunde Fashola, to appoint an acting vice chancellor for the institution.