The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has revealed that politicians bring figures from the polling units and give to the presiding officer to announce during elections in Nigeria.
This is just as ASUU said its members stayed away from electoral processes after the 2015 general election due to the rigging of elections perpetrated by politicians in the country.
ASUU President Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke disclosed this at the 2024 ASUU State of the Nation Conference in Abuja on Thursday, October 3, 2024.
Osodeke stated that ASUU members presiding over elections, after the 2025 general election, were doing so in individual capacities.
Osodeke, however, stressed that rigging of elections in Nigeria would be totally eliminated if ASUU members were involved in the entire electoral process starting from the ward levels to local governments and to the national.
He said: “ASUU was asked to help conduct the election. That first election went well, though there were still issues. When the elections were over, we called for a meeting and put up a committee together to study what happened.
“By the time they finished, they came with a report that even though our colleagues are involved in the election, rigging is done at the polling booths and local government collation centres.
ASUU: We stayed away from election after rigging in 2015 polls
“What our colleagues do is just collate what they have been given. They gave you a report, and you just write it down. So we found out that rigging is done there, and given to our members to collate.
“We went to INEC and asked that we participate from the polling unit up to the final stage and they refused. We wrote to them that ASUU, as a body, will not participate in any election.
“If you recall, before any election in this country, we will come out with a statement that we are not part of the election, but our members are Nigerians. They have their freedom, and they can go and do anything.”
The ASUU President also raised concerns over the increasing influence of foreigners and the elite during elections in the country, noting that the national conference was aimed at generating ideas that would assist in creating a governance system that caters for the interests of the masses.
Osodeke further raised concerns over the high amount expended by universities in running their activities and operations, especially electricity bills, which he said may lead many institutions to shut down academic operations.
Also speaking at the event, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, appealed to ASUU to shelve plans for another strike once the 14-day ultimatum issued to the government elapses.
The Speaker enjoined ASUU to explore alternative means of resolving industrial disputes within the university system.
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