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Thursday, December 3, 2009.
Newsdiaryonline Thur Dec. 3,2009
The Executive Governor of Lagos State,
Governor’s Office,
Alausa – Ikeja,
Lagos State.
Your Excellency,
RE: ULTIMATUM TO STRIKING WORKERS OF
LASU: OPEN REQUEST BY ALL LABOUR UNIONS
OF LASU TO SUSPEND THE VICE-CHANCELLOR,
PROFESSOR L.A. HUSSAIN, FOR SUNDRY
OFFENCES (PENDING INVESTIGATION AND
PROSECUTION) BEFORE RESUMPTION OF WORK.
We are Solicitors to all the Labour
Unions of the Lagos State University (LASU),
which consist of:
i.
The
Academic Staff
Union of Universities (ASUU)
ii.
The Senior Staff Association of
Nigerian Universities (SSANU)
iii.
The Non-Academic Staff Union of
Universities and Allied Institutions (NASU)
iv.
The National Association of
Academic Technologists (NAAT).
They have briefed us as follows:
That following complaints of our clients
over mis-management, maladministration
and fraud levied against the
Vice-Chancellor of the Lagos State
University, Professor L. A. Hussain in
the management of the affairs of the
University, to relevant agencies and
bodies like the Economic and Financial
Crime Commission (EFCC), the Independent
Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) and
the Lagos State House of Assembly, the
latter (Lagos State House of Assembly)
swung into action to thoroughly
investigate these allegations.
Whilst the investigation of the EFCC and
ICPC are at an advanced stage, the
Legislative Arm of the Lagos State
Government, that is, the Lagos State
House of Assembly, at its sitting of
Tuesday, November 24, 2009, considered
the report of its six-man panel that
probed the said allegation and adopted
the Panel’s report. Letters to this
effect dated the 30th day of
November, 2009, have been forwarded to
all the Unions.
The report, in brief, indicted the
Vice-Chancellor, Professor L.A. Hussain
of financial mismanagement, fraud,
contract splitting and inflation,
blatant disregard for due process and
sundry offences. (Please find attached a
full copy of the report and the letter
of the House to our clients accepting
the said report).
It is pertinent to stress at this stage
that the Executive Arm of the Lagos
State Government cannot disregard the
said report as it is a document of the
Lagos State Government.
It is in the light of the above that we
are genuinely surprised that the
Executive Arm of the Lagos State
Government has given an ultimatum to our
clients to resume work on Friday,
December 4, 2009 or face dire
consequences, without addressing the
grouse of our clients, namely, the
allegation of corruption levied against
the Vice-Chancellor, for which the Lagos
State House of Assembly has indicted
him.
Granted that the report of the House of
Assembly may not be conclusive of the
guilt of the Vice-Chancellor, it is
however a report that can clearly form
the basis of further investigation and
prosecution in a court of law since the
House is constitutionally empowered to
carry out such investigation by virtue
of Section 128 of the 1999 Constitution.
It is also totally unthinkable that the
Vice-Chancellor should continue to
preside over the affairs of the
institution when such a scathing
indictment has been made against him
which may likely lead to his prosecution
and conviction.
Your Excellency, no responsible
Government will tolerate and condone
corrupt practices, not the least your
Government. Your Excellency can
understand why we are in utter shock
that you have ordered the re-opening of
the institution with Professor L. A.
Hussain still in charge and have
threatened fire and brimstone against
the whistle-blowers, who are our clients
and are major stakeholders in the
institution.
Consequently, and in view of the above,
we are constrained to request the
following:
1.
That you do the needful by
suspending the Vice-Chancellor,
Professor L. A. Hussain, pending the
completion of the on-going investigation
by other agencies.
2.
That you withdraw the ultimatum
issued against our clients as it smacks
of a desperate effort to suppress the
core issue of corruption levied against
the Vice-Chancellor, Professor L. A.
Hussain.
Finally, our clients restate their
resolve NOT to RESUME WORK
UNTIL THE VICE-CHANCELLOR, PROFESSOR L.
A. HUSSAIN IS SUSPENDED FOR ALLEGED
CORRUPT PRACTICES PENDING THE OUTCOME OF
FURTHER INVESTIGATION AND POSSIBLE
PROSECUTION.
With highest regards,
Yours most trusted,
FESTUS KEYAMO, ESQ.
Head of Chambers
......ILLUMINATING
FACTS ABOUT THE MAL-ADMINISTRATION OF
PROF. LATEEF AKANNI HUSSAIN IN
LAGOS
STATE
UNIVERSITY
The unions of the Lagos State University
ASUU, SSANU, NASU and NAAT hereby
present an insight into how LASU has
been run since the assumption of duty of
Prof. L. A. Hussain as Vice- chancellor
of
Lagos
State
University
with all his excesses which we have
tolerated before this current crisis
erupted. Unknowingly, the University
Governing Council and the Visitor were
deceitfully misled into believing that
Professor L. A. Hussain was turning LASU
around.
In contrast to this positive perception
held about Professor L. A. Hussain, he
has turned LASU into his personal
empire/business venture and a slave
enclave. In fact, his running of the
University can be likened to that
contained/obtained in the widely read
literature text – Animal Farm by George
Orwell.
All these will be revealed so that you
can appreciate our positions/demands
that Professor L. A. Hussain must be
removed as Vice-Chancellor of Lagos
State University.
Some of these revelations may look
shocking, unbelievable and impossible
but they actually happened in this ivory
tower. They are nothing but real life
situations with witnesses and documents.
The allegations are itemized as follows:
1.
Financial Fraud: Contract splitting,
over invoicing, contract inflation and
blatant disregard to due process.
Creation of illegal vice-chancellor
tenders board which is not recognized by
the University committee system, this is
an avenue of siphoning LASU funds
2.
Academic fraud: Fraudulent admissions.
3.
Discriminatory and irregular
appointments by imposition of relations
particularly retirees’ (who are above 70
years), friends from University of
Ibadan.
4.
Victimization, intimidation and
harassment of staff and union leaders.
5.
Blatant display of arrogance and
autocracy.
6.
Witch-hunting of scholars, staffs and
students leaders.
7.
Nepotism, oppression and militarization
of LASU.
8.
Indiscriminate termination of
appointment of perceived enemies.
9.
Award of contracts to contractors who
are not registered
10.
Writing of cheques in the name of
Professor Laide Adedokun as against the
directive of the LASU Governing Council.
11.
High handedness and sub-human condition
of service.
12.
Over centralization of power.
13.
Marginalization.
14.
Long tenure for personal friends of the
Vice Chancellor on secondary assignment.
15.
Zero admission policy for staff children
and wards.
16.
Fraudulent purchase /supply of obsolete
equipment, wastage and abandonment of
equipment of central research
laboratory.
17.
Mismanagement of resources in relation
to internally generated revenue (IGR)
estimated to be around =N=5,000,000,000
(Five billion naira) yearly.
Lagos State Government is not sincere by
the recent press briefing on the Lagos
State University crisis as contained in
the presentation of the Commissioner for
Information and Strategy, Barrister
Opeyemi Bamidele held on Tuesday, 1st
of December, 2009. It is surprising
that the government of Lagos state is
shielding, aiding and abetting
corruption when it issued an ultimatum
that staff should resume on or before
the 4th December, 2009 or
they will be sacked without addressing
the issues of a corrupt
Vice-Chancellor. It is pertinent to
note that after exploring all peaceful
avenues to resolving the crisis, Lagos
State Government is still adamant in
imposing Professor L. A. Hussain who has
been indicted for Fraud and Corruption.
The adopted report of the Honourable
members of the House of Assembly which
clearly indicted Professor L. A. Hussain
for splitting of contracts; approving
contracts beyond his approval limit
among other irregularities were neither
addressed nor sanctioned.
One therefore wonders why the insistence
of the Lagos State Government that
Professor L. A. Hussain remains in
office and untouchable while a
Visitation Panel probes his
administration; in spite of the
overwhelming proven evidences of corrupt
practices against him. It may interest
the public that what Lagos State
Government is trying to sweep under the
carpet has in the recent time sent to
jail some prominent Nigerians as stated
below:
a.
Jailing of LASTMA official for four
years for taking N10,000.00 (Ten
Thousand Naira) bribe.
b.
Removal/impeachment of the former deputy
speaker LAHA for gross misconduct and
arrogance.
c.
Removal of the former vice-chancellor of
Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye
for misconduct.
d.
Jailing of the former Vice-Chancellor of
Imo State University for corruption and
misconduct (EFCC)
e.
Jailing of Bode George for splitting of
contracts to circumvent higher
authorities (EFCC).
f.
Removal of the former Vice-Chancellor by
the Ondo State Government for corruption
and misconduct.
g.
Removal of the former Vice-Chancellor of
Enugu State University for corruption
and misconduct.
In conclusion, we wish to reitrate our
unalloyed commitment to the peace and
development of the Lagos State
University, Lagos state and Nigeria in
general. We therefore call on the
authority to kindly uphold truth,
fairness, equity and justice for the
overall interest of
Lagos
state in particular and the Nigerian
nation in general.
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