The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma in Edo State, has dragged Governor Godwin Obaseki, Edo State Government and the Attorney-General of the state have taken Obaseki to court over last week’s ban on union’s activities in all the state-owned tertiary institutions.
In the suit before the National Industrial Court sitting in Edo State, Chairman and Assistant Secretary of ASUU, Dr. Cyril Onogbosele and Dr. William Odion, who are claimants, asked the court to determine whether the state government and others defendants in the case have the power under Section 40 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) and Section 35(3) of the Trade Unions Act, Cap. T14, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, to suspend or prohibit trade union activities in AAU.
Following a protest by students of AAU over the lingering nationwide strike by ASUU, the state government had suspended all union activities across all state-owned institutions of higher learning.