The organisation also emphasised that for the previous 28 months, the impacted employees had not received their salaries.

Over 200 of its members were fired, and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has fiercely denounced this action, calling it a clear victimisation of academics who took part in recent strikes.

The organisation also emphasised that for the previous 28 months, the impacted employees had not received their salaries.

Professor Oyebamiji Oyegoke, the ASUU’s Ibadan Zonal Coordinator, charged the Federal University of Technology, Owerri, of pursuing its members in reprisal for their opposition to Dr. Isa Pantami, the former Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, being awarded a professorship during a press conference on Sunday.

Oyegoke attacked the management of the university, claiming that the institution’s actions are indicative of a larger pattern of damaging public colleges by taking punitive action against those who disagree with administrative decisions.

The ASUU leader highlighted that the actions are detrimental to the integrity of higher education in Nigeria and demanded an immediate reversal of the dismissals and payment of the outstanding payments.

Concerns regarding how its members are treated at various campuses, such as Lagos State University (LASU), Kogi State University (KSU), and Ebonyi State University (EBSU), have been brought up by the union.

According to Oyegoke, members have been wrongfully suspended, refused promotions, and had their pay withheld as a result of their support of the law and university autonomy.

He emphasised that the matter is still unresolved seven years after a Visitation Panel recommended their reinstatement.

The branch secretariat of Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University (COOU) is allegedly sealed, impeding congress meetings, and salaries have been withheld for a maximum of 12 months.

Comparably, rather than carrying with a court ruling that benefited the harmed members, the management of Ebonyi State University is challenging it.

Opinion leaders, media, labour movements, religious and traditional leaders, student organisations, and civil society organisations are being urged by the union to support the prompt reinstatement of members who were wrongly dismissed and to put an end to victimisation in all its manifestations.

ASUU Yola Zone, meantime, has harshly denounced the firing of almost 120 professors from different colleges who took part in the nationwide walkout in 2021.

The Federal University of Technology Owerri, Lagos State University, Ebonyi State University, Ambrose Alli University Ekpoma, Prince Abubakar Audu University, and Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University were among the impacted universities cited by ASUU Yola Zone Coordinator Dani Mammam.

Mammam underlined that these professors were demonstrating for improved working conditions as part of their right to do so, claiming that these kinds of terminations are against both academic freedom and human rights.

He asked that the lecturers who had been fired be immediately reinstated and that their salaries that had been withheld be paid.