Court Faults ASUU National Leadership’s Decision to Ostracize LASU Chapter, Orders Restraint
The National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) sitting in Lagos has ruled against the national leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), condemning their decision to ostracize the Lagos State University (LASU) chapter of the union, led by Prof. Ibrahim Bakare.
The court’s judgment was delivered by Justice Sanda Yelwa in a case brought by Bakare and seven others against ASUU and three other defendants. The claimants challenged the national ASUU’s recognition of the LASU ASUU executive, whose tenure had expired, and the subsequent decision to bar them from taking on leadership roles.
The court ruled that the actions of the defendants—ASUU’s national body and its representatives—were unlawful. Justice Yelwa declared that the decision to prevent Bakare and his group from participating in professional academic activities, such as sabbatical leave, part-time lectureships, external examinations, and research collaborations, was illegal, null, and void.
In addition, the court determined that the national leadership’s decision to prevent LASU’s ASUU chapter from selecting or electing members of their executive was a violation of their academic freedom and contrary to the ASUU constitution.
Justice Yelwa’s ruling stated that the national body had no authority to restrict the claimants’ rights to collaborate with other institutions or pursue educational objectives, emphasizing that such actions breached the claimants’ fundamental rights guaranteed under the Nigerian Constitution.
As a result, the court issued a perpetual restraining order, preventing the defendants from interfering with the claimants’ rights to academic freedom and their participation in educational activities.
In response to the judgment, Prof. Bakare described the dispute as a family issue that had now been resolved, expressing his willingness to work alongside the national leadership of ASUU moving forward.
