JOINT Action Front, JAF, yesterday, debunked reports in a section of the media that members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU Cross River State, participated in Wednesday’s protest to save public education in Nigeria.
JAF said the reports were not only mischievous, but Federal Government-sponsored.
A statement by JAF Secretary, Comrade Abiodun Aremu, insisted that ASUU neither organised the ongoing nationwide protest that started in Lagos nor participated in the Calabar protest, arguing that there was no ASUU banner or leaflets at the protest march.
The statement read in part: “There was no ASUU banner or leaflets at the protest march. The JAF’s banner was the main protest march banner and was complemented by the banners of Nigerian Students’ Rights Movement, NSRM, and Education Rights Campaign, ERC.
“The over 20,000 leaflets circulated throughout the protest march was mainly authored by the JAF.
“JAF leadership represented by one of its principal officer – Comrade Abiodun Aremu, Secretary of JAF, was clearly in the leadership of the protest from the beginning when he declared it opened at the Freedom (Botanical Garden) Park at about 9.35a.m. to his closing remarks at about 3p.m.
“Comrade Aremu addressed the rallies at all the major points and his statements were communicated in Efik language to the people.”
Mr. Oku Ita spoke in Efik at the Calabar Watt market and at Etim Edem Central Park, with traders and transporters coming around for leaflets and declaring their support for the protest.
