ABU senior staff pullout of nationwide strike

From Femi Oyelola Kaduna

The Ahmadu Bello University chapter of Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities Union (SSANU) has pulled out of the national strike embarked since December 2017.
The senior staff union arrived at the decision after its Congress held at the union secretariat in the main campus of the university yesterday.
The union directed all its members to resume work immediately.
Briefing newsmen shortly after the congress, the union’s chairman Ilyas Abdulrauf Bello said the national strike had lost direction and focus hence the decision of the chapter’s Congress to pull out and resume work.
According to Bello, “The union embarked on the strike action on the 4th of December 2017. This is the 4th month and up till now, the strike has lost direction, it has lost focus. The government is not inviting the union, most universities are in session, academic activities are in progress. And so, we felt the best we could do is to call on our members to resume work immediately.
“This idea was muted by the congress and it was unanimously adopted. On this note the SSANU members have been directed by the congress of SSANU, Ahmadu Bello University chapter to resume work with immediate effect”, he said.
Bello also lamented that, continuing with strike where academic activities are going on smoothly and the striking workers getting their salaries regularly was meaningless.
The SSANU members were also angered by the purported expulsion of their chapter chairman and resolved that, the letter of expulsion issued to their chairman, Ilyas Abdulrauf Bello was null, void and of no effect.
The association said that, the constitution of the union was not followed in the purported expulsion, adding that, the national body of the union does not have power to expel any official or member of the local chapter.
The chairman also disclosed that, the Congress of the ABU chapter also expelled some erring members upon their failure to appear before its disciplinary committee after their initial suspension.