The management of the Federal University at Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE) has blamed the death of a student of the institution on the insensitivity of members of the Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Universities (SSANU) who are currently on strike.
The Vice Chancellor, Prof. Abayomi Fasina, said the student was asthmatic and could not get treatment due to the ongoing strike that led to the closure of the university’s health centre.
Addressing reporters yesterday in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, Fasina, who was represented by the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Administration), Prof. Tajudeen Opoola, alleged that some hoodlums invaded FUOYE in cohort with SSANU members and shut down the institution based on what he called false information given to the national body.
The vice chancellor warned that FUOYE management would no longer allow a breakdown of law and order in the university under the guise of a strike.
He said: “We lost a student this morning in FUOYE. He had asthma. He could not be taken to our clinic because the facility is under lock and key.
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“It is true that students are on vacation but not all of them are living on campus. It would have been easier for the student to be taken to our clinic for treatment, but our university gate is locked.
“This morning, I was at the Ekiti State University (EKSU). The administrative block is wide open. Total strike is not going on in EKSU. But the same leadership of EKSU SSANU went on air yesterday (Tuesday) to incite the public and even led some hoodlums to invade our school, based on a false narrative he was fed with by Chairman FUOYE SSANU.
“Our own chairman was the one who gave false information to the National President (of SSANU). He gave the impression that he had been beaten and harassed. The national president allegedly directed that the leadership of their union in Ondo, Osun, and Kwara states should proceed to FUOYE to rescue the (branch) chairman.
“It is that impunity that the EKSU chairperson used. But we hope he won’t misuse the immunity.”
Fasina, who said the law would deal with the situation appropriately, added: “The university is not going to fold its arm and allow anybody in whatever name or allow any union to come and occupy our place. We have a way of dealing with such. This is Nigeria. Nobody is above the law.”
But SSANU Chairman at FUOYE, Ben Faleye, who said the union duly notified the university of the seven-day warning strike, queried: “Is FUOYE the only federal university that is observing the seven-day warning strike? There are many schools that are under lock and key.”
Reacting to the allegation that the SSANU strike caused the student’s death, the union leader said: “Before now, there was a notice of the strike. I have a memo that the university issued prior to the notice that we would be embarking on seven days’ warning strike that directed the students to vacate the hostels to avoid something of such.”
Faleye denied the allegation that the union incited or led hoodlums to invade FUOYE.
He challenged the university’s management to prove its allegation, saying it was the management that ambushed its monitoring team.
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