The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, has said that the ongoing strike embarked on by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is political.
Ngige stated this while speaking on ChannelsTV programme, Politics Today, on Friday, October 7.
The minister accused the ASUU president, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, of a deliberate attempt to whittle down the chances of the APC at the 2023 general election.
“ASUU’s leadership is not sincere. They feed their members with lies, and at a point, they politicised the entire thing. President Osodeke of ASUU asked Nigerians to vote out the APC government that is maltreating them and has kept their children at home for seven months.
“Why is he dabbling into politics? A union should not dabble into politics,” Ngige said.
Earlier, the Appeal Court asked ASUU to return to class immediately.
The appellate court relied on the order of the National Industrial Court in September restraining the union from continuing its seven-month-old strike.
Reacting to the court order, Ngige urged the union to return to class before appealing the injunction.
Meanwhile, counsel to ASUU, Femi Falana, has urged the Federal Government to meet the demands of the union rather than “chasing shadows”.
