Obaseki govt never directed reinstatement of disengaged AAU staff

The immediate past Acting Vice-Chancellor of Ambrose Alli University (AAU), Ekpoma, Prof. Asomwan Sonnie Adagbonyin, on Sunday refuted claims that his management received directives from former Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, to reinstate two staff members disengaged by the defunct Special Intervention Team (SIT) but failed to implement them.

Adagbonyin spoke in Benin while reacting to an online publication titled “Reinstatement of Sacked Lecturers: Governor Okpebholo’s Stance is Unassailable” credited to one Nosa Ekhator.

In the report, Nosa quoted Otunba Mike Aladenika, Principal Assistant Registrar and Head of Information, Public Relations, and Protocol of Ambrose Alli University, as stating that directives to reinstate the two lecturers, disengaged by the SIT during Obaseki’s tenure, were issued to the university management but were not implemented “due to a lack of political will.”

Adagbonyin clarified that while he preferred to remain silent on many issues surrounding the SIT’s disengagement of the staff, it was essential to correct the misconception that the fate of the two disengaged staff rested with the university management.

“The business of hiring, firing, and recalling workers did not (and does not) lie in the hands of the university management but in that of the Governing Council, and in this circumstance, the Special Intervention Team (SIT), which had relieved the staff of their appointments ab initio, as their letters of disengagement clearly stated,” Adagbonyin explained.

The former Acting Vice-Chancellor emphasised that he was unaware of any directive issued to his management by the Governor or the SIT beyond a press release by the former Governor’s Special Adviser on Media Projects, Mr. Crusoe Osagie, which condemned the SIT’s actions at the time.

“But we all heard what the Governor said when he responded to calls to rescind the disengagement of the staff during his visit to the university on March 16, 2023, days after Mr. Crusoe made the press release. I did not hear the Governor give management any specific directive to reinstate the staff.

“Just as he spoke about winding up the activities of the SIT within 90 days, he categorically stated that it would not be possible to rescind the SIT’s decision on the two staff members without understanding the details of why the SIT made the decision in the first place. In his words, ‘I don’t think that is the right way to govern.’ Note that he subsequently set up a committee,” Adagbonyin noted.

Adagbonyin expressed interest in seeing any memo—if it existed—directing his management to recall the sacked staff.

He also challenged anyone to present evidence of sanctions imposed on his management for allegedly lacking the “political will” to implement the governor’s directives, noting that it would be impossible to flout a governor’s order without consequences.

“What is political will in the face of government directives?” he asked. “It’s strange, very strange indeed! We’re no longer in office, but we’re certain we kept a record of all that transpired during our tenure. Certainly, directives to reinstate the two disengaged staff were not among them.”