In what seems a recant of his earlier opinions on state universities, the President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke has debunked a report making the rounds that he described universities owned by State governments as quacks and irrelevant.
Midlandpost had reported that several state universities were miffed on Friday and gave the ASUU President a tongue lash in reaction to his backhanded compliments while appearing on a live TV programme.
Professor Osodeke had on Arise TV on Thursday where he addressed some issues regarding the ongoing industrial action embarked upon by ASUU over six months ago.
Speaking about some state universities that recently pulled out of the struggle, the ASUU president said, “Talk about important universities, not those quacks. They’re not part of our strike”.
According to a transcribed report of the audio by Premium Times, he was quoted to have said: “When you are providing data, look at the background. Kwara State University is not a member of ASUU, Osun State University was suspended for its behaviour, you can check. LASU, you mentioned. We are in court with LASU because they sacked all our executives five years ago so they are not part of this struggle and Ekiti State University’s government has the right to say we have reopened just as it has happened in Gombe State University, Yobe and Kaduna State University.
“So, don’t cite those examples as they are irrelevant. Talk about the issue, is the University of Ibadan on strike? Is the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) on strike? Is Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) on strike? Is Bayero University Kano (BUK) on strike? Is Maiduguri University on strike and the University of Lagos? Let’s talk about real universities, not those quacks.”
As a reaction, the management of most of the universities he mentioned were ungenerous. Kwara state Universities, Molete in a release said “His statements are tantamount to bullying. They are reckless, uncalled for and a denigration of the status he occupies as national head of the union of academic staff in Nigeria,”
Kaduna State University described the statement as “irresponsible, unguarded, misleading and derogatory”, while Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti, said the outbursts were “reckless and unwarranted”
The Vice-Chancellor, Osun State University (UNIOSUN), Professor Odunayo Clement Adebooye on his part described ASUU’s president as a careless talker
However, speaking with a reporter with Daily Post on Saturday, the ASUU president debunked the report saying he was misquoted by the media.
According to Osodeke, he was referring to only three universities owned by State governments which are currently not on strike.
Describing the report as fake, Osodeke lamented unprofessionalism in reportage, alleging that the media aimed at creating confusion in the system.
He said, “There is nothing like that. It is a lie. I have told myself that I will not talk to the press again because they always misrepresent things.
“I have found out that Nigerian press is specialized in manipulating interviews, reporting what someone did not say just to create confusion in the system. They won’t report things the way it is”.
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