The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has accused the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, of deceiving them into calling off their eight-month-old strike in October 2022, after he presented them with a written promise that the government would pay their salary arrears in full without delay.
The union's president, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, during an interview on Tuesday, December 27, described the speaker's actions as deceitful, adding that the union members held the speaker in high regard and suspended the strike with the belief that his words would be matched with action.
Osodeke further expressed his disappointment with the judiciary for hurriedly passing judgment on their matter with the Federal Government by asking ASUU members to go back to work and adjourning the case till January 26. According to Osodeke, ASUU members are only remaining in the classrooms in spite of the unfavorable treatment from the government as a sacrifice for the sake of students and parents as well as the country at large.
He called on the speaker to redeem his image by working out the implementation of his promises to the union as the collective impression of Gbajabiamila by the union members is that he tricked them into going back to work and then reneging on the promise immediately thereafter.
