The Western Zone of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities on Thursday rejected the resolution of the Governing Council of the Federal University, Oye Ekiti, Ekiti State, which absolved the Vice Chancellor of the institution, Prof. Abayomi Fasina, of sexual harassment.
PUNCH Online reports that the Governing Council absolved Fasina of allegations of sexual harassment.
The Registrar and Secretary to the council, Mufutau Ibrahim, said the council took the decision at its 8th Extraordinary Meeting held on Tuesday.
In a statement issued by the National Vice President of SSANU Western Zone, Dr Abdussobur Salaam, and made available to PUNCH Online, the union faulted the institution council’s resolution, saying the governing council was not being fair and just on the matter
According to the statement, one of the wrongs of the process was the continued stay in the office of the vice chancellor during the pendency of the investigation into the matter.
It said that had compromised the fairness of the process.
The statement read, ” The governing council acknowledged the existence of audio recordings between the vice-chancellor and Engineer Folashade Adebayo gladdens our hearts.
“While we note that the governing council admitted that the recordings were not subjected to any forensic evaluation, we are taken aback that rather than focus on the contents of the recordings, the governing council attempted to gaslight the public by querying why the recordings were made and concluding it was for the purpose of blackmail.
“We find it further shameful that the council did not query the spate of queries that followed the rejection of the offer by Professor Fashina in his bid to intimidate Engineer Folashade Adebayo into submission.
“We are also further disappointed that the Governing Council did not see anything wrong in a conversation where the Vice-Chancellor compromised and impugned other principal officers of the university, especially the Registrar and Bursar, in a bid to sweet-talk Engineer Folashade Adebayo to accept his advances.
“To further claim that Engineer Folashade Adebayo never made any complaint of sexual harassment against Professor Abayomi Fasina is a barefaced and brazen lie.
“Consequently, and in view of the compromised decisions of the governing council on this issue, the Western Zone of SSANU rejects in totality, the various sanctions meted out to Engineer Folashade Adebayo for allegedly bringing the name of the institution into disrepute.”
To this end, the SSANU called on the Nigeria Labour Congress and other stakeholders in the protection of the rights of Nigerians to wade into the matter, which, according to it, “has the potential of becoming a cause of national industrial unrest in our university system.”
“We have begun mobilisation of all 26 universities in the Western Zone of SSANU for a possible industrial action, and we shall not stop until our demands are met,” the statement added.
Punchng
