By Tope Alade
Earlier this morning we read a piece entitled: “UPDATED: ASUU, NANT say no objection to FUOYE VC’s return, as SSANU kicks”, from an online news outlet, Devreporting, and we were greatly disappointed after reading some statement credited to one Abdussobur Salaam, identified as the National Vice President, SSANU, who was quoted to have allegedly said the university should be prepared for whatever consequences the vice-chancellor’s resumption brings!
One wonders what exactly could be running through the mind of this Abdussobur when he uttered such unfortunate statement! And this calls to question what nature of leadership that union, SSANU, is having. A trade union primarily exists to protect the interest of its members and in doing this, it must be civil and lawful in all its dealings.
Another germane ethical practice of unionism is that as a leader, or even a member, you cannot allow your personal/selfish interest to override the general interest and well being of your union. However, It is unfortunate that Abdussobur, by uttering such uncouth statement about the return of Prof. Abayomi Sunday Fasina, has betrayed what we long suspected about him and his co-travellers on this matter regarding FUOYE, that he is allowing his personal ego, selfish and questionable desires/interests to override those of his members in the union.
Come to think of it, how can a union of so called senior staff members, dissipate so much energy on practicing illegality on inconsequential matters that have nothing to do with the welfare or well being of its members? On the issue of alleged sexual harrasment of Mrs. Folasade Adebayo, not even SSANU as local branch nor Mrs. Adebayo herself has a written petition submitted officially to the University’s authority over the matter ever since. What has been adequately gathered on the issue is that SSANU in a version of a purported Communique of its local branch’s November 2024’s Congress, made available to some section of the online news outlets, leveled allegation of sexual harrasment against Prof. Fasina. The content of that ill-fated Communique is curiously different from another version of same SSANU FUOYE Congress which the union submitted to the University authorities. The second one, submitted to the University authorities, has no such allegation of sexual harrasment against Prof. Fasina as contained in the version the same union made available to newsmen. It was obviously a treachery of the utmost evil and devilish intentions!
However, responding to the media trial and blackmail against Prof.
Fasina and the University, the Governing Council, under the dutiful Senator Ndoma Egba, constituted a probe panel which investigated the allegation of sexual harrasment. The report exonerated Prof. Fasina on salient grounds that no incontrovertible evidence whatsoever, had been provided to prove that Prof. Fasina committed the act: Neither the illegal secret recording of the VC allegedly provided to the media by Mrs. Adebayo nor the report of an earlier police investigation of the same allegation pronounced Prof. Fasina guilty of such allegation. What remains truthful is that Mrs. Adebayo and her co-travellers in SSANU committed gross misconduct against the University by externalizing falsehood and bringing the image of the University to disrepute in the process. They were however, granted mercy in the spirit of allowing peace to prevail, and directed to tender apology in that direction. It was also discovered that Mrs. Adebayo had made failed attempts to blackmail Prof. Fasina to make her substantive Director of Works of the University after her tenure as Acting Director ends. An attempt she made with recordings of their personal and friendly conversations in 2023 but released to the media in 2025 to spread false allegation of sexual harrasment.
Prof. Fasina proceeded on a six month leave as duly allowed by the University Council on April 14, 2025 and he is due to return to complete his five-year tenure on October 14, 2025. The astute Administrator and scholar would just be spending less than six more months to complete his fruitful and highly impactful tenure on February 11, 2026, but political hyenas masquerading as union leaders like Abdussobur would not let peace reign. They want to cause chaos because their ill-mannered, ill-conceived evil plots against the system have all failed.
The recent report which made public Abdussobur ‘s evil intentions for FUOYE, reads in part: “Mr Salaam, who doubles as the Chairman of the Western Zone of the union, said: “We know why he left; it was to allow the heat to simmer, so that we could forget the circumstances that led to his exit. Would it not have been proper to just continue to stay away from the office to allow peace to continue to reign on the campus? Why wake a sleeping dog?
“The truth is that SSANU cannot ask him not to resume, but we are saying
cannot ask him not to resume, but we are saying he should not resume on moral grounds.”
The pertinent question to ask Mr. Salaam or Abdussobur is what moral ground is he talking about? Does one subvert what is legitimate on some inconsequential grounds some egocentric and selfish trouble maker has tagged “moral”?.
Why does he and his co-travellers of trouble makers, immoral and ill-mannered union leaders want Prof. Fasina to stay away from his lawful duty ?. Whose script is this confused union leader acting?: Those who want to grab power by all means in FUOYE or those blackmailing the University and its principal officers for selfish and questionable interests?.
What peace would Prof. Fasina ‘s come back threaten?: That of the University which Fasina’s impactful tenure has tremendously transformed or that of the enemies of progress like Abdussobur and his co-travellers formenting trouble to destabilize the system over falsehood?
Isn’t Abdussobur and his co-travellers the ones who have been disrupting the peaceful co-existence of the FUOYE University community with so many laughable and inconsistent union activities of SSANU? The foregoing and many more are begging for answers from this so called union leader Salaam.
But we must thank this Abdussobur for making this careless statement at this material time. His uncouth words are very useful tips for the security operatives to take very careful note of. What Abdussobur actually means is that himself and his co-travellers would likely forment trouble again when Prof. Fasina resumes his lawful duty on October 14, 2025 and the security operatives should be at alert on this. Also, the students of FUOYE, whose bright future would most likely be jeopardized, if unhealthy union activities from SSANU in FUOYE is allowed, must also be at alert, primarily and aggressively to prevent these troublesome characters from causing more chaos in the system.
All other union bodies in the University, both academic and non-academic, according to Devreporting’s publication, have no problem with Prof. Fasina returning to complete his impactful tenure, except the troublesome SSANU. This is indeed an unfortunate development for SSANU as a union in the system.
Unfortunately for Abdussobur and his co-travellers, all issues relating to allegation of sexual harrasment are in court and must be handled in a civil way by all concerned stakeholders. There cannot be any foolish and ill-mannered protest on campus on such matter, neither could any media outlets entertain any press statement agitating for any action on such matter. Whoever makes such stupid mistake risk imprisonment!, however highly placed he or she thinks himself or herself to be. Unionism shouldn’t be to settle personal scores, neither should it be to fortify/promote political vendetta or witch-hunt. SSANU’s excessive, illegal and unhealthy involvement in this matter is becoming not only embarrassing for many of its members, but also laughable and irritating to many Nigerians and the global community. If two parties are dragging an issue and one of the parties has brought the issue before the Law court (…as Prof. Fasina has done by dragging Mrs. Adebayo and some recalcitrant media outlets to Court over the allegation), Nigeria’s constitution demands that no party should hit the polity over such issue again while the court is still deciding on it. Doing such is subjudice as the culprit in such case risks imprisonment. Abdussobur and his co-travellers in chaos making against FUOYE and Fasina should be warned! A word, as the African sagely saying admonishes, is enough for the wise.
Alade is a public Affairs
Analyst based on Lagos. He is also the spokesman for Concerned Stakeholders on FUOYE and Ekiti Matters (CSFEM)