The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian University, Ahmadu Bello University branch Zaria, Kaduna State, is in crisis following a directive by a faction asking its members to end the ongoing strike and resume work on Wednesday.
The factional chairman, Iliyasu Bello, announced this at a news conference at the union’s secretariat at the main campus, Samaru, Zaria on Tuesday shortly after a congress meeting.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the Universities Joint Action Committee comprising SSANU, Non Academic Staff Union and National Association of Academic Technicians had embarked on a nationwide strike since December 2017.
The chairman said the strike was directed by the national leadership of the union on December 4, 2017.
He said the strike had lost focus as government was not listening to the union and academic activities were still going on in all the universities.
Bello said: “After a congress meeting held today, we resolved that the strike be suspended with immediate effect; therefore, all members are directed to resume work tomorrow (Wednesday).
“This is because the strike is ineffective, it has lost focus; government is not inviting them for dialogue, academic activities are still in progress.
“Therefore, this strike has failed; it has not yielded the desired impact and must be suspended.”
Bello said that the union had dissociated itself from the national body of the association.
In a swift reaction to the development, the SSANU National Women Leader and a member of staff of ABU, Hajiya Hadiza Kabir, said: “As far as I am concerned, Bello is no longer a member of SSANU”.
Kabir added: “He has been suspended by the NEC due to his acts and he went to court but the court passed a judgment against him by striking out the case.”
She said one person would not hold the union back, assuring that the strike would continue pending the decision of the national body of SSANU.
She called on members, SSANU and the university joint unions, to continue with the strike while they awaited further directives from the national headquarters.
She expressed regret that the ABU management was listening to Bello’s faction, giving him the opportunity to do what he liked.
She insisted that the matter was a purely union affairr and the management should be fair to all parties.
Kabir added: “Why should management of ABU involve itself in union matter for God’s sake? Bello has been expelled from the union, so he is not our member.
“The congress was illegally convened because he has no locus standi to organise it and our strike still stands.”
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