The Southeast zonal arm of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, has debunked the existence of a group named ASUU NAU Progressives at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka.
The union had staged a public protest in April demanding that the vice chancellor uphold the constitution of the union by constituting the university senate according to the law establishing the university.
The vice chancellor of the University, Professor Boniface Egboka was also accused of igniting the administrative crisis which now boils in the institution.
It is being said that the new faction of the union emerged after the protest, which Osuagwu has denied.
Condemning the ugly development in a media briefing, the Southeast zonal coordinator of ASUU, Dr. Chidi Osuagwu, maintained that the union neither exists nor is recognized by ASUU as a registered Trade Union in Nigeria.
While noting that the constitution and principles of the union regulates the discipline and actions of the members within the union, he brought the issue in focus of the publication of the so called NAU Progressives in which they made several claims among which was the mentioning of one Professor Maduabuchi Dukor as the Unizik branch chairman of ASUU instead of Professor Ike Odimegwu. They were alleged to have threatened and deceived some lecturers into signing a document against the union.
Osuagwu maintains that the substance of the current controversy in the university is the University’s refusal to abide by the law establishing the university regarding the constitution of the Senate.
The Vice Chancellor, Professor Boniface Egboka, is yet to react to the new developments.