The state government took the decision on Wednesday
following protest by students of Ambrose Ali University, Ekpoma, over the
lingering strike by ASUU and other unions in the institution.
Speaking to The PUNCH in an interview, SSANU’s National
President, Mr Ibrahim Mohammed, said it was not within the powers of any state
government to proscribe the unions’ activities.
Mohammed said, “As far as we are concerned, this is an
action that is dead on arrival, it is null and void. Maybe the governor was not
properly briefed that there is a need for a high-level discussion on this
matter.
“Our members cannot just resume like that because it’s a
national action. These actions are not in tandem with our democratic culture.
We are in a democracy, not a military era.”
The National Vice-President, SSANU, Dr Abdussobur Salaam,
while condemning the suspension, stated, “It is an illegal act and a show of
lawlessness by the Edo State Government. What they have done is not within the
powers of any state government because the regulation of trade unions lies with
the registrar of trade unions and not with any state government.
“Edo State has descended into an abyss of lawlessness and
unconstitutionality by this attempt to strangulate the trade unions.”
The ASUU national president, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, said the
governor had no right to proscribe the unions.
“There are many court judgments against the proscription of
unions in tertiary institutions. The governor is misbehaving. We are going to
challenge him in court. This same governor has removed the governing council
and gone to the Senate that he has a law to set up a special intervention team
to run a university, which is against any rule of university in the world.
“His idea is to see how he can destroy the university. Our
members will fight for it. We will not allow him to destroy one of the first
universities in the country,” Osodoke stated.
Similarly, the National President, ASUP, Anderson Ezeibe,
said the purported ban, as reported, represented a very weak link in governance
at the level of the government of Edo State.
Ezeibe said, “The truth is that the Edo State Government
cannot infringe on the fundamental rights of workers to peaceful assembly,
freedom of expression and right to unionise in their workplaces, as these
rights are globally recognised, adopted through several regional instruments
and subscribed to by Nigeria.
“The unions in question are also national unions, properly
registered and operate within the boundaries of extant laws. The resort to
industrial action by any of the unions in pursuit of their legitimate
entitlements is also recognised by the law.”