FUOYE Workers’ Union Shut Down School In Protest Of Sacked Workers

Workers in the Federal University, Oye Ekiti, shut the institution on Thursday to protest the dismissal of 10 members of staff over their involvement in the December 18 last year strike.The shut down was as a result of workers protesting against alleged victimisation and high-handedness of the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Isaac Asuzu. Read more details as reported by PunchNg.

They also accused the VC of non-payment of allowances and non-remittance of taxes deducted from their salaries to the appropriate quarters.

Following this, the management set up a fact-finding panel which the Acting Registrar, Mr. Daniel Abiodun, said was to know the “remote and immediate cause of the protest and how to forestall reoccurrence in the future. It is not to try anybody.”

But on Wednesday, the management broke the news of the dismissal of 10 out of the 15 employees invited to face the panel.

The workers, who started the protest at about 7am, blocked the road leading to the university from the heart of the town. They made bonfires, thereby creating tension. They also called on Asuzu to rescind the decision for normalcy to return.

The protesters locked all the offices in the university and prevented lecturers from attending to students.

It took the intervention of a detachment of soldiers to disperse the protesters, who had shut the main gate of the university and other offices.

Asuzu and other management staff were led into the campus amid tight security.

Leaders of the protest, Mr. Foluso Ojo and Miss Obadore Kemisola, who were executive officers in the university, contended that the management erred in sacking them for leading a protest to demand their rights.

Ojo said what they demanded from the management were confirmation of workers’ appointments, promotion of staff and putting a stop to the deduction on the National Housing Fund, among other issues.

But justifying the dismissal of the workers, Asuzu said the university took the action, as recommended by Prof. R.A. Omoleyin-led panel, to prevent a few individuals from destabilising the institution.

He said, “No responsible leader will fold his arms and allow few individuals to hold the school to ransom. This is an academic environment, where people should display high sense of modesty and intellectualism rather than thuggery and brigandage.

“They are not supposed to protest at all because their appointments have not been confirmed.”