O N Monday, the management of the Lagos State University (LASU), Ojo, suspended, with immediate effect, the payment of check-off dues of members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) of the institution into the Union Bank accounts.
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The vice chancellor of the university, Professor Olarenwaju Fagbohun, who gave the directive said in a statement made available to newsmen that the decision was taken to ensure that the lecturers in the university properly regularise the signatory to their bank accounts; And that a letter to that effect, dated January 14 and signed by the institution’s Deputy Registrar (VCs office), Mrs. A. A. Adesunkanmi, and addressed to ASUU-LASU Secretary, Dr. Tony Dansu, has since been delivered to the union.
Fagbohun said it was not only improper that somebody who had been sacked and is no longer a member of staff of the university (referring to the dismissed ASUU branch chairman, Dr Isaac Oyewunmi) to still be a signatory to the account of the union more than a year after he was dismissed over alleged misconduct. He said the action is also illegal and fraudulent.
A Professor of Law, Fagbohun noted that some members of ASUU in the university petitioned the university over the continuous operations of the union’s account by their former leader, and that upon investigation, the claim was confirmed from the bank.
According to him, the relevant financial institutions confirmed to the management that Dr Oyewunmi is a signatory to the bank accounts of ASUU-LASU up to January 9, 2019, whereas he had ceased to be a member of staff of LASU since September 7, 2017.
“So, it is necessary to suspend further remittance of lecturers’ check off dues into those accounts until proper regularisation is done in order not to allow the mechanisms of the university to be used by anybody to aid and abet fraud and corruption in our system,” he said.
But when contacted for his reaction, Dr Isaac Oyewunmi told Tribune Education that he would not want to join issue with the university’s management over the matter that concerns his person because his case with the university’s authorities for dismissing him is pending before the court of competent jurisdiction.
“But, it a statement of fact that I remain the branch chairman of ASUU of LASU and, therefore, it is not out of place that I am retained as the signatory to the union’s accounts,” he said.
Corroborating his stance, the secretary of the union, Dr. Dansu, and assistant secretary, Dr. Adeolu Oyekan, who have been performing in acting capacity the roles of chairman and his deputy who was also dismissed over similar allegation since 2017, said in a letter addressed to the vice chancellor that it is not the business of the university’s management to tell the union how to manage its funds.
The union in the letter, copied to the visitor and governor of Lagos State, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode, and his deputy as well as other relevant officials, including the chancellor of LASU, pro-chancellor and chairman of the governing council, said it was not “abetting illegal operation of ASUU-LASU bank account” as falsely claimed by the university management, stating that, “for the avoidance of doubt, no union can illegally operate its own account.”
While disclosing that in line with the constitution and extant practices of ASUU, only the National Executive Council (NEC) of the union can determine and recognise the leadership of, and signatories to a branch’s account, the union said Dr. Oyewumi is still the recognised chairman of ASUU in LASU.
The union, however, reminded the vice chancellor that the purported dismissal of the chairman is still a subject of litigation in a court of law, and that as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and a law teacher of many years should know that this matter is subjudice
On the check-off deductions, the union explained that check-off deductions of all members, including that of ASUU-LASU, belong to the national body of the union and that in line with its commitment to and solidarity with victimised members, it often gives a monthly stipend until the determination of their illegal dismissal by a competent court of law.
“So, ASUU-LASU is only discharging this obligation on behalf of the national body,” the union pointed out, advising the university management and the vice chancellor in particular to retrace their steps from the path they are treading.
Nonetheless, Tribune Education sought legal interpretation of the matter from experts. They said in as much as the union is a legal entity on its own away from the university, the operations of the union’s account is strictly the responsibility of the union; but that there is another dimension to the matter since Dr Oyewunmi is at the moment not a member of staff of LASU.
Mr Joseph Onyia, a Lagos-based lawyer, for example, said, in this case, both ASUU and the university would have to maintain status quo since the matter is already in court.
Even at that, he noted that since the branch chairman of the union has been dismissed from service, he has no right whatsoever again to hold on to the union’s bank accounts.
“But then, this can only be decided by the courts while both parties can also take the matter to the Alternative Dispute Resolution to see how things can be resolved amicably,” he advised.