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Strike: Ojukwu varsity ASUU chairman alleges threat to life, job

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The  Chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Universities,  Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University chapter, Anambra State, Prof Okey Aniebo, blames ASUU over Job & life threats.

He stated this when the ASUU zonal leadership led by Prof Ike Odumegwu visited the University.

He said he had got threats to his life and job because he refused to back out from the national ASUU strike.

The university authorities had directed the lecturers to suspend the strike and resume work.

But the ASUU Chairman insisted that the strike must continue, adding that COOU had certain peculiarities that made it imperative for it to key into the national strike.

Aniebo said, “Don’t be surprised if I’m sacked any moment now. My life and job are in danger, but if they kill me or sack me another ASUU executive will spring up in this university.

The strike is not about Prof Aniebo. It’s about saving our public universities from destruction. We don’t have the resources to train our children abroad or in private universities; public universities are our only hope to give our children an education.

Describing the condition of service in the university as hellish, Aniebo said without ASUU on campus, most lecturers would have died.

He said, “Most of the projects in the university are products of ASUU’s struggle. Yet the management is asking us to abandon the national union. If we abandon ASUU, we’ll die.

“We have lots of internal problems that are yet to be attended to. There’s no budget monitoring committee at the university. This contributed to waste of resources.

“There’s no retirement programme for anybody here. Some lecturers become sick when they remember their retirement is coming”, Aniebo stated.

Odumegwu who led the delegation to the institution regretted the treatment they received from the authorities of the university during their meeting on campus.

He said, “When we came here for our Congress, they sent armed persons to send us away from the hall. Congress has been holding here since 2006.

“Even when we came out under the tree, the same armed persons came to tell us we don’t have the right to stand under the tree, even as lecturers in the university, that we should leave.

“It was after a while that they asked us to continue, but we were still surrounded by people holding guns pointing at us, even if it’s military barracks, it shouldn’t be so.

“The university is a ground of freedom, because, without freedom, there can be no knowledge.” Odumegwu stated.

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