A socio-economic group known as the Unity Project Nigeria has alleged that Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities (ASUU) and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) were compromised by the leading oppposition party in the country, the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Founder and Leader of the group, Igwekala Ugomefule, addressed a press conference in Abuja where he alleged that the leaders of the Unions may have been compromised after receiving financial gratification from the APC.
Igwekala expressed concern over the stance of ASUU in not reaching a compromise with the Federal Government despite several overtures being made by the Presidency. He also faulted the NLC for wanting to join ASUU in a solidarity strike, and blamed their decision on a meeting they had with Governor Rotimi Amaechi where the decision to do so was reached.
“Information on ground indicate that the Nigerian political opposition, a known desperate, power-mongering philistine and undemocratic movement has since hijacked the ASUU movement and now the NLC leadership, ” he said.
“With recent developments, the bubbles have finally burst and the cat had been let out of the bag on the real motives of the seemingly endless strike by the Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities (ASUU).
“Our organisation based on facts at our disposals, through our information gathering network, has raised the alarm at the several clandestine meetings of the leading members of the opposition and the ASUU and NLC leadership, ” he added.
In response, APC said the government’s incompetence was to blame rather than any conspiracy.
APC Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said: “The insinuation that it is the opposition that is behind ASUU strike is baseless. Meanwhile, we know that the federal government has gone to lobby the religious leaders and they have been lobbying everybody but this will not help them. They should do the right thing by going into an agreement and obeying such an agreement.
“Any government that does not place education as a priority is doing a disservice to the children unborn. The PDP government should not rope in the opposition in their incompetence. They should find solution to their problem. For God’s sake what has the opposition got to do with ASUU’s insistence that the federal government should implement an agreement between them?”