ASUU President denies calling Universities not on strike ‘irrelevant quacks’

Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, the president of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, has denied referring to universities owned by State governments as “quacks”.

Osodeke in an interview with Arise TV while discussing issues surrounding the ongoing strike embarked on by the Union reportedly made the derogatory statement.

Speaking about some State universities that recently pulled out of the struggle, the ASUU president said, “talk about important universities not those quacks. They’re not part of our strike”.

In an interview with DailyPost, Osodeke claimed he was referring to only three universities owned by State governments which are currently not on strike.

He said, “There is nothing like that. It is a lie. I have told myself that I will not talk to the press again because they always misrepresent things.

“I have found out that Nigerian press is specialized in manipulating interviews, reporting what someone did not say just to create confusion in the system. They won’t report things the way it is”.

Meanwhile, in a reaction to the ASUU president’s “quack” comment, some state universities including Kaduna State University (KASU); Osun State University (UNIOSUN); Kwara State University (KWASU) have tackled him.

Professor Odunayo Clement Adebooye, Vice-Chancellor of Osun State University (UNIOSUN), while reacting to the report yesterday, described ASUU president as a careless talker by saying universities that are not on strike are ‘quacks’.

Professor Adebooye said the State university has 481 full-time academic staff and among them, 387 are full-time Ph.D. holders, “this is not a quack.”

Kaduna State University (KASU) said ASUU’s alleged description of the university staff as “quacks” was enough reason for its academic staff to pull out of the Union.

The Kwara State University (KWASU), Malete, says the institution is founded on the vision of advancing the frontiers of knowledge for the good of society and not a quack university.