Badagry youths protest against sack of lecturer at LASU

Some youths, under the auspices of the Voice Movement of the Masses (VMM), an NGO, on Friday staged a peaceful protest in Badagry against the sacked of Dr Tony Dansu, an indigene, from the Lagos State University, Ojo.

They staged the protest, in their hundreds, at the popular Badagry Roundabout, carrying placards of various inscriptions, including: “Badagrians Demand Immediate Recall of Dr Tony Dansu and others.

“We Stand with Dr Tony Dansu. LASG Reinstate Dr Tony Dansu.”

It was reported that Dr Anthony Dansu, Department of Human Kinetics, Sports and Health Education, Faculty of Education, was among the eight academic staff members sacked by the institution’s authorities.

It was reported that the LASU Governing Council had at its 122nd meeting on Sept. 12, promoted 31 academic Staff, 346 non-academic staff and also dismissed eight academic staff members, including the ASUU-LASU Secretary, Assistant Secretary and Treasurer.

The council also approved the dismissal of three non-academic staff on issues bordering on absence from duty, certificate falsification, theft of confidential documents, sale of marks, among others.

The NGO President, Mr Samuel Salome, said that the protest was to express their sadness over the sack of Dr Tony Dansu, whom they claimed, was their role model in Badagry.

“We are here to protest the sacked of son of Badadgry, Dr Tony Dansu, and we are using this opportunity to appeal to the Lagos State Government to set up an independent panel to revisit the matter.

“We are also appealing to the Lagos State House of Assembly to intervene in the matter so that justice will be done.

“Youths in Badagry look toward recall of the sacked lecturer; we believe that if the injustice is left unaddressed, this will kill morale of other people of Badagry who plan to go into lecturing after completion of their education.

“We are also very sad about the development, and this is the reason we came to protest the unjustified dismissal of our own,” he said.

Also, Mr Ayodele Hunpevi, the Secretary of VMM, said that youth in the town were sad to find out that it was one of the town’s indigenes headed the panel that sacked the lecturer.

“It is sad to know that our Dansu was not sacked because of embezzlement, sex for mark or molestation.

“The panel set up did not find him wanting in all these offences, and they still went ahead to sack him at this period when it is hard for people to feed themselves.

“We want our amiable Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu to look into the matter by setting up an independent panel to investigate the matter again,” he said.

Commenting, Mr Taseyon Solomon, the VMM Public Relations Officer, said that the organisation stood for peace and believed that LASG would do justice by recalling the sack lecturers.

Solomon said all the sacked lecturers by LASU management should be recalled, adding that the management was trying to cover up issues by sacking the lecturers.