BY Ayodele Oluwafemi
Some residents of the Ikoga-Zebbe community in Badagry LGA of Lagos have staged a protest against the “wrongful” dismissal of five lecturers at Lagos State University (LASU).
The lecturers, who are executives of LASU’s chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), were sacked between 2017 and 2019.
The sacked lecturers are Akinloye Isaac Oyewumi (ASUU-LASU chairman), Adebowale Adeyemi-Suenu (vice-chairman), Anthony Dansu (secretary), Adeolu Oluwaseyi Oyekan (assistant secretary), and Oluwakemi Aboderin-Shonibare (treasurer).
The management of LASU sanctioned the lecturers for “unauthorised removal, retention, dissemination, or publication of official documents”.
In July 2023, the Campaign for Democratic and Workers Rights (CDWR) called on Sanwo-Olu to reinstate the sacked lecturers.
During the protest on Saturday, the residents carried placards with inscriptions such as “Dear Governor Sanwo-Olu, please correct this injustice. #RestoreDrDansu”, “Reinstate Dr Tony Dansu and others,” “Let justice prevail,” and “Dr Tony Dansu’s integrity and service deserve commendation, not dismissal”.
The protesters appealed to Babajide Sanwo-Olu, governor of Lagos, to reinstate the lecturers and implement the recommendations of the LASU governing council on the incident.
Mide Abayomi, an indigene of the community, said the lecturers need to return to the classrooms for the benefit of the students.
“We want Governor Sanwo-Olu to reinstate the five lecturers to the varsity so that the current students of the institution could benefit from their expertise, which I and some others had benefited from in the past. The LASU community misses them,” Abayomi said.
Also, Solomon Peter, a LASU alumnus, appealed to Sanwo-Olu not to “delay justice and act swiftly” by considering the dismissed lecturers.
“We are pleading that Sanwo-Olu reinstates Dr Dansu and four others. Let justice prevail. All the community leaders in the kingdom should please do what is needed for the benefit of Lagosians and the institutional community at large,” Peter said.
In February 2022, the David Sunmoni-led governing council of Lagos State University reinstated the sacked lecturers.
The reinstatement came after an appeal committee headed by Adenike Boyo, the deputy vice-chancellor, cleared the lecturers of all offences and recommended their reinstatement.
However, 48 hours later, the same governing council ruled to put the recall of the lecturers on hold.
Ever since, the lecturers have been seeking justice.
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