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Obi Is Sound, Gentleman, Progressive-Minded – Dino Melaye, PDP Presidential Campaign Spokesman

By
Adesina Soyooye
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Peter Obi

By Adesina Soyooye

Senator Dino Melaye, the Chief Spokesperson of the Peoples Democratic Party’s Presidential Campaign Council, has acknowledged that the candidate of the Labour Party, LP, Peter Obi, is sound, progressive-minded and a gentleman.

Melaye spoke in an interview where he appealed to Obi to “come back home to his elder brother and mentor” so as to defeat the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Bola Tinubu, in the 2023 General Elections.

In the 2019 Presidential election, Obi was Atiku’s running mate. They were defeated by the incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

However, three days to  the PDP Presidential Primary against the 2023 Presidential election, Obi, who was an aspirant in the PDP, just like Atiku, resigned from the Party. He joined the almost moribund Labour Party and revived it. LP is now one of the three main parties in Nigeria, and Obi, a major contender to the Presidential seat in 2023. Both the All Progressives Congress, APC, and the PDP,  admit that Obi is an obstacle to the ambitions of their candidates.

Appealing to Obi to jettison his Presidential ambition and join hands with Atiku, Melaye said “Nigerians cannot endure another four years of the APC.”

Melaye described Obi as “sound, a gentleman progressive-minded.”

He said:  “I’m having a clarion call on Peter Obi, gentleman, progressive- minded, sound, that in the interest of this country, for his tomorrow, he should give his today and come back home to support his elder brother and mentor.

“Nigerians cannot afford another four years of an APC administration that will continue with insecurity, kidnapping, banditry, rise in the prices of goods and commodities in the country.”

Obi, Atiku and Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, APC, are the three frontline runners in the Presidential election scheduled for February, 2023.

Peter Obi Poses Danger To Atiku’s Ambition – Melaye, PDP Presidential Campaign Council Spokesman

By
Adesina Soyooye
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By Adesina Soyooye

The main Spokesperson for the Presidential Campaign Council of the Peoples Democrat Party, PDP, Senator Dino Melaye, has admitted that the candidate of the Labour Party, LP, Peter Obi, is an obstacle to the ambition of his candidate, Atiku Abubakar.

Senator Melaye said that Obi poses great danger to Atiku’s 2023 aspiration. Any Vote for Obi in 2023, Melaye said, depletes Atiku’s votes. Worse, Melaye said, a vote for Obi is a plus for the  candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Bola Tinubu.

The Senator who spoke on the chances of Obi’s victory in 2023, said it is a no-no. He noted that the LP does not have the spread, and pointed out that it is fielding only 30 Senatorial candidates out of 109 candidates.

He appealed to Obi to come back to “his elder brother and mentor”, Atiku, so as not to allow the APC to win in 2023. “Nigerians cannot endure another four years of the APC”, Melaye said.

His words: “The euphoria of the Obidients is going down. By January, it will go down  more because people will realize it is going to be a wasted vote. People will realize that he (Obi), cannot become President. People will realize that voting for Peter is voting for Tinubu.

“So, that is why I’m having a clarion call on Peter Obi, gentleman, progressive- minded, sound, that in the interest of this country, for his tomorrow, he should give his today and come back home to support his elder brother and mentor.

“Nigerians cannot afford another four years of an APC administration that will continue with insecurity, kidnapping, banditry, rise in the prices of goods and commodities in the country.”

“Nigerians must know that any vote for Peter Obi is a vote for APC. Because Peter Obi cannot make it. So, anybody that is voting for Labour Party is actually voting for Tinubu. Anybody that is campaigning for Peter Obi is actually praying and working for Tinubu to become the President.

“If you are voting for Peter, you are depleting the votes of PDP.”

The 2023 Presidential election is seen as a three-horse race between Obi, Tinubu and Atiku. In most opinion polls, Obi whose Campaign is being championed by, mostly, youths, haa beaten Tinubu and Atiku to the second and third places respectively. The candidate of the New Nigerian Peoples Party, NNPP, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso places a distant fourth, but his candidacy is likely to deal a blow to both Atiku and Tinubu in Kano. A former two-time Governor of Kano State, Kwankwaso, a grassroots politician, is very popular in the State.

Buhari Calls For Ethnic, Religious Tolerance In Tackling Insecurity

By
Akinwale Kasali
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By Akinwale Kasali

As the spate of insecurity in the country keeps escalating, President Muhammadu Buhari has called on Nigerians to entrench ethnic and religious tolerance in their domain to foster peace and unity in the country.

The President said for the nation to overcome its insecurity challenges, it needs to embrace peace and unity irrespective of religious and cultural beliefs.

Buhari gave this charge on Sunday in Lafia, Nasarawa State Capital where he had visited on a two-day official visit to the State for an inspection of the ongoing construction works at the Agricultural Machinery and Equipment Development Institute, Lafia, which began on August 1, 2022.

Represented by his Chief of Staff, Ibrahim Gambari, President Buhari said that the Federal Government decided to build the AMEDI, Lafia because of its commitment to the development of agriculture and to guaranty food security across the nation.

He expressed confidence that the agricultural institute which is being built by the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure, will in no distant time emerge as a centre of excellence which would enable Nigeria to become a hub for agro-allied technologies.

“I am urging all Nigerians to always tolerate each other, embrace one another and work towards the peace, unity and development of the country. We should entrench ethnic and religious tolerance so as to achieve a common goal of making our country great.

“I want to commend the Executive Vice-Chairman of the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure, Professor Mohammed Sani-Haruna, for the work he has been doing across the country. I also want to thank the Nasarawa State Government for all the support they have given us since the project commenced.

“It is a good pleasure for me to be here physically. The groundbreaking ceremony was done in August, now I am here to see the tremendous progress that has been made since that time, and By God’s grace, AMEDI Lafia will be commissioned before the end of this administration.”

Buhari is away to London on medical grounds.

Ondo Police Command Arrests Man For Setting His Five Step Children Ablaze

By
Ayodele Oni
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Nigeria Police Force

By Ayodele Oni

What could have come over a Head of family in Ondo State to decide to set ablaze five of his step children?

This and other questions are what the Ondo State Police Command is trying to unravel. It arrested the 54year-old father, Mr Ojo Joseph,  for setting ablaze five of his step children at Fagun crescent area of Ondo town in Ondo State.

It was gathered that the man alleged that his wife, who is the mother of the children, was having  little misunderstanding with him.

It was further learnt that the father, who was said to have poured petrol into the room of the children while asleep, set them on fire and in the process, one of them was burnt to death.

Four others who sustained injuries, are currently receiving treatment at Federal Medical Centre, Owo.

Their mother who has another 18month-old twins escaped from the inferno with the two.

Another unconfirmed source disclosed that the man perpetrated the heinous act because the mother of the children allegedly denied him s*x.

Confirming the incident, the State Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Mrs Funmi Odunlami said the man has been apprehended by the police for a case of alleged arson and murder.

The suspect is not the biological father of the five children, but is the father of the little twins.

The PPRO said further investigation would be carried out before charging the suspect to court.

SERAP Issues Seven Days Notice To Reverse Half Salary To ASUU Members

By
Ayodele Oni
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ASUU Meeting

By Ayodele Oni

Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has given the federal government within seven days to reverse payment of half October salary to members of Academic Staff Union of Universities, (ASUU) that resumed from eight months strike recently.

SERAP pointed out that President Muhammadu Buhari should “direct the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, and the acting Accountant General of the Federation, Sylva Okolieaboh to immediately reverse the apparently illegal deductions from the salaries of members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) for October 2022.”

‘Mr President should direct Mr Ngige and Mr Okolieaboh to pay ASUU members full salaries for the duration of their strike action.”

The Federal Government recently allegedly paid half-salaries to members of ASUU for the month of October, 2022. Some professors reportedly received salaries ranging from N71,000 to N121,000 for October.

In the open letter dated 5 November, 2022 and signed by SERAP deputy director, Kolawole Oluwadare, the organisation said: “Paying half salaries to ASUU members solely for exercising their human rights is patently unlawful and incompatible with the Nigerian Constitution 1999 [as amended] and international standards.”

“The alleged deductions from the salaries of ASUU members also amount to punishing them for exercising their right to strike.

“The deductions are illegal and disproportionate. The deductions may also be construed as a deliberate attempt to take away the right to strike, and to make ASUU a lame duck.

“The right to strike implies the right of workers not to be punished for striking. ASUU members do not therefore forfeit their salaries because they exercise their right to strike.

“We would be grateful if the recommended measures are taken within seven days of the receipt and/or publication of this letter.

“If we have not heard from you by then, SERAP shall take all appropriate legal actions to compel your government to comply with our requests in the public interest.

“Illegal deductions from the salaries of ASUU members may also violate the right to work, and to respect of the dignity inherent in a human being.”

“The deductions are also incompatible with the prohibition of all forms of exploitation and degradation of man particularly cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment and treatment.

“The deductions also implicitly violate the right of members of ASUU to an adequate standard of living for themselves and their families, including to the continuous improvement of living conditions.

“Strikes are an essential means available to workers and their organizations to protect their interests.”

“The right to strike is an intrinsic element of the right of association recognized under the Nigerian Constitution, ILO conventions, and human rights treaties to which the country is a state party.

“Indeed, the right to strike and that of entitlement to full pay for days of strike are essential elements of trade union rights.

“Paying ASUU members or any workers half salaries solely for lawfully and peacefully exercising their right to strike constitutes an impermissible restriction on the right to freedom of association including the right to strike, which is an essential element in the principle of collective bargaining.

“The application of any purported ‘no work, no pay’ rule to deduct from the salaries of ASUU members would be clearly inconsistent and incompatible with the Nigerian Constitution and international standards.

“The right to strike is a keystone of modern industrial society. No society which lacks that right can be democratic. Any society which seeks to become democratic must secure that right.

“The ILO Committee on Freedom of Association has stated that the imposition of sanctions for strike action is not conducive to harmonious labour relations.”

Multi-Billion Naira Contracts: Sekibo Tackles Wike, Demands Apology; Sekibo Asked To Shut-up

By
The Source
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Nyesom Wike

By Charles Igbo

A former Transportation Minister, Dr Abiye Sekibo, has tackled the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, over claims by the Governor that he awarded Sekibo contracts worth over five billion Naira.

Wike has, during the swearing-in ceremony of his newly appointed 319 Ward and 32 Constituency Liason  Officers, a couple of days ago, in Porthacourt, lamented that Sekibo turned against him even after he, Wike, awarded him  contracts to the tune of N5.5 billion.

The two of them were very close political allies but they fail apart over Sekibo’s support for the Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar, a man Wike has been at loggerheads with since after Atiku beat him to a respectable second place at the PDP Presidential Primary, and went on to choose Delta State Governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa as his running mate instead of the very expectant Wike.

Sekibo is the Rivers State Coordinator for the Atiku Presidential Council.

Wike, who had earlier written Sekibo off as a man without political consequence, who, as Transportation Minister, attracted nothing to Rivers State or even to his Okrika hometown, listed the  contracts he awarded Sekibo as follows:  *N2.1bn Okrika Sand filling contract, *N2bn Okochiri internal road contract, *N1.4bn contract for the Okujaku Street, Danjuma Drive, Trans-Amadi, Porthacourt.

But Sekibo has denied any such contract awards by Wike to him, and has demanded a public apology in a national newspaper.

He said all he did, at the Governor’s request, especially since two of those contracts are located in his hometown, was to recommend contractors to the Governor.

A statement by Sekibo’s lawyer, Christian Elenwo, explained thus: “Ordinarily, our Client would not deem it necessary to respond to these deliberately orchestrated falsehoods primarily targeted to tarnish and destroy the hard-earned reputation of our client.

“However, our client, since the release of the false statement by Governor Wike has been inundated with phone calls from different people all over the country to find out the truth or otherwise of these allegations. We have our client’s instruction to state the truth and correct facts as follows.

“Our client is not a contractor, and has never been awarded any of the above contracts by the Rivers State Government. The contracts were awarded to Gascon Ltd, and our client is neither a Director nor a Shareholder in Gascon Ltd.

“Due to the cordial relationship our client had with the Governor, coupled with the fact that two of these contracts were to be executed in our client’s hometown of Okrika, the Governor asked our client to recommend a competent company that could execute these projects. This led to our client’s recommendation of Gascon Limited to the Rivers State Government.

“Gascon Limited upon the award of these contracts immediately mobilized to the sites, and had successfully achieved 100%, 80% and 65% completion of these projects respectively to the knowledge of the Rivers State Government.

“We have our client’s further instruction to demand the immediate retraction of these false allegations and the publication of unreserved apology to our client in a national newspaper by the Governor of Rivers State.”

But many are of the view that Sekibo should have kept quiet. They say they see no difference between Wike’s claims and Sekibo’s explanation. “It is like saying there is a difference between 12 and a dozen”, a watcher of Rivers State politics said.

Another argued: “When you are not a contractor and you recommend contractors for jobs, the jobs are for you. You have a huge share or commission. I fail to understand the point Abiye Sekibo is making.”

How Nasarawa Government Sabotaged Peter Obi’s Presidential Campaign Launch

By
The Source
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Peter Obi Campaign in Lafia

By Gideon Njoku

More facts have emerged on the sabotage visited on the Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi and Dr Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed respectively during the launch of the Party’s Presidential Campaign on October 28, 2022.

The All Progressives Congress, APC, Government in the State, apparently, in  connivance with the powers-that-be, threw in every obstacle available to them to make sure the launch flopped.

Considering the scores of thousands of Obidients who received Obi the first time he visited Lafia, capital of the State, not a few people were shocked at the not too appreciable crowd at the Campaign flag-off. In deed, APC even mocked the LP over it.

But facts have emerged that the Governor of the State, Abdullahi Sule, pulled all stops to abort the success.

This was revealed by Dr. Doyin Okupe, the Director General of the LP Presidential Campaign Council during an interview on Channels Television.

Okupe reeled out the obstacles thrown their way.

For instance, began Okupe, the permission for the landing of the helicopter used by Obi to fly to Lafia for the launch, was delayed till the last minute. Meaning that even on the eve of the launch,  Obi was not sure he would make it to Lafia.

Secondly, Okupe lamented, 48 hours to the D-day, the LP  had not secured a venue for the launch. He said the party had chosen any of three venues. And had sent a 22-man advance team for final preparations. But shockingly, when they called the team to confirm the venue, they were told that no venue had been approved for the event, yet, by the State Government.

But more was to come.

On the eve of the launch, Governor Sule, inexplicably imposed a curfew on the State. That was clearly to stop LP supporters from travelling to Lafia for the launch.

But there was worse.

Okupe revealed that Nasarawa had never observed sanitation day in the past seven years. But on the day of the Campaign launch, it did.

Governor Sule suddenly imposed Sanitation exercise on that Saturday, and banned movement till 10am.

A combination of all these, especially, the curfew and the sanitation exercise, had a devastating blow on the launch.

“Our supporters from parts of the State could not travel to Lafia,” Okupe lamented.

Noted one top Government official in Lafia: “This is politics at its most bitter. My Governor didn’t need to descend this low. It is executive recklessness. How these people pray to Allah and sleep at night beats me.”

Chibuike Amaechi’s Close Ally,  His Former Commissioner, Semenitari, Decamps To PDP

By
The Source
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Ibim Semenitari and Rotimi Amaechi

By Charles Igbo

A former Ag. Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Ibim Semenitari, has defected to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

Semenitari a close political ally of the immediate past Transportation Minister, Rotimi Amaechi, was  Amaechi’s Commissioner for Information when he was Governor. It was, also, Amaechi who influenced her appointment to the high profile NDDC top job. She had, during the crisis that engulfed the PDP in the months leading to the 2015 General elections, decamped to the All Progressives Congress, APC, with Amaechi.

But on July, 10, 2022, after Amaechi lost the APC Presidential ticket to Bola Tinubu, Semenitari resigned from the APC alongside a couple of other Amaechi’s allies.

She had been off the radar since her resignation from the Party. But on Saturday, November 5, 2022, the former NDDC boss took the bold step, decamped to the PDP, and pledged loyalty to the Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike.

Asked why PDP, Semenitari whose father, Gabriel Tobby, was the Deputy Governor of the State under then Governor Peter Odili, PDP, said she only returned to base.She reminded that her first political step was in the PDP, and that she only followed her former boss to the APC when the PDP structure was taken away from him during the Goodluck Jonathan Presidency.

She was received to the party in her Okrika Local Government Area by the Council Chairman, Akuro Tobin, a former Commissioner in the State, and other PDP chieftains.

Semenitari: “My first political home was the PDP. I moved with my former boss (Amaechi) who was the leader of the PDP in Rivers State when the structure was taken away from him.

“Every politics must benefit the people. I left the APC for personal reasons. I could not provide for my teeming supporters and those who saw reason to belong to the APC because of me.

“Now that an Opobo son (Sim Fubara) is contesting for the Governor of Rivers State on the platform of the PDP, we all must support him to win the election in 2023.

“We all must place ourselves in a position to speak for our people. I need to find a position to speak for my teeming supporters and the good people of Opobo Kingdom.

“This is my only attraction to the PDP and nothing more.”

Her former boss, Amaechi, has been quiet since after Tinubu roundly beat him to the APC Presidential ticket. He is one of the high profile APC members whose names were dropped from the Party’s Presidential Campaign Council.

Enugu: Governor Ugwuanyi Commits Ekweremadu To God; PDP Gov. Candidate, Mba, Expresses Concern

By
The Source
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0

By Charles Igbo

From Enugu State Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, were prayers to God on behalf of Senator Ike Ekweremadu.

Ekweremadu, a son of the State, a  serving Senator, and a former Deputy Senate President is embattled.

He was arrested at the Heathrow Airport, London, alongside his wife, Nwanneka, June 21, 2022, on allegations bordering on organ trafficking.

They allegedly sponsored a minor(?) from Nigeria to London, for the sole purpose  of harvesting his kidney to save the life of their daughter, Sonia, who is suffering from a rare kidney disease. Sonia schooled and lives in London.

Ike Ekweremadu
Ike Ekweremadu

The ‘trafficked’ teenager, allegedly, reported them to the Metropolitan Police, claiming he was not told he was brought to London to have his kidney harvested. Unsuspecting, when the couple flew in from Turkey to London, it was into the waiting hands of the Metropolitan Police.

They were clamped into Police custody, and arraigned in court the next day. About two months later, Mrs Ekweremadu was granted bail from prison custody, but the Magistrate  refused to grant bail to Senator Ekweremadu while prosecution continues.

In an emotional statement where she appealed that her life be saved by any kind donor, Sonia revealed that her father, the Senator, has also fallen victim to a serious kidney disease in Prison custody.

And, in a classic case of  hitting a man who is already down, a Federal High Court

which sat in Abuja, Nigeria, granted the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, its request to take over 40 properties scattered in Abuja, Enugu, Dubai, London and the United States of America which, allegedly, owned by Ekweremadu.

In a ruling on Thursday, Justice Inyang Ekwo, ordered a temporary forfeiture of the properties to the Federal Government.

But while receiving leaders and members of Oganiru Enugu, a political structure promoted by Ekweremadu, who came to announce the collapse of its structure into that of the Governorship candidate of the PDP, in the State, Peter Mba, the Governor who hosted them, asked for prayers to remember Ekweremadu, and commit him to the hands of God.

Ugwuanyi, who asked Sir Ralph Onovo, to pray for God’s intervention in Ekweremadu’s case, also requested that Mass be booked every week on  behalf of Ekweremadu and his family. The Governor asked them to have faith because, “this too shall pass away.”

Also speaking, Mba the Governorship candidate,  expressed concern for the travails of Ekweremadu. He said that the prayers and thoughts of the PDP family are with Senator Ekweremadu and his family.   Mbah: “With faith, we pray that in no distant time, he is going to join us in the Party.”

Before he went to the Senate, Ekweremadu was the Chief of Staff to a former Governor of Enugu State, who is, also, now a Senator, Dr Chimaroke Nnamani.

Ekweremadu’s seat as the Senator representing Enugu West has been empty since his arrest. The leadership of the Senate has not declared it vacant.

Why FG Paid Varsity Lecturers Half Salary In October – Chris Ngige

By
Ayodele Oni
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0
Chris Ngige
Chris Ngige

By Ayodele Oni

The Federal Government has clarified that members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, (ASUU) were paid for numbers of days they worked in the month of October.

ASUU had announced suspension of eight months old strike and directed members to resume work on 14th of last month.

Shedding light on half salary paid to the lecturers, government explained that they were paid pro-rata.

In a statement by the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment on Saturday, the government noted that members of ASUU were paid  because they cannot be paid for work not done.

Payment of the lecturers salaries during the period of strike was among issues that caused delay in resumption by the lecturers.

The statement further clarified that the  Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, never directed the Accountant General of the Federation to pay the university lecturers half salaries.

According to the statement,  “Following the ruling of the Court of Appeal, which upheld the order of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, asking ASUU to go back to work, the leadership of the union wrote to the Minister, informing him that they have suspended the strike.

“The Federal Ministry of Education wrote to him in a similar vein and our labour inspectors in various states also confirmed that they have resumed work.

“So, the Minister wrote to the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and Planning, directing that their salaries should be restored.

“They were paid in pro-rata for the number of days that they worked in October, counting from the day that they suspended their industrial action. Pro-rata was done because you cannot pay them for work not done. Everybody’s hands are tied.”

The ministry equally faulted a statement by the Chairperson of ASUU, Usman Danfodiyo University Sokoto branch, Muhammad N. Al-Mustapha, accusing the Minister of Labour and Employment,  Chris Ngige, of biased payment of salaries to selected professional members of the union.

“Those obviously being referred to by the UDUS ASUU chairperson were members of the Medical and Dental Consultants Association who abstained from the eight-month strike of ASUU because they abhorred the incessant strikes by the union and its grave effects on medical education in Nigeria and production of more medical doctors.

“Accusing the Honourable Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige, of biased payment of salaries to selected professional members of ASUU, is a barefaced distortion of facts.

“Mustapha said he received information that a segment of the staff in the College of Health Sciences has been paid seven months of their withheld salaries from March to September, due to a letter written to the Minister of Finance, instructing the exemption of the under-listed staff on the application of ‘No Work, No Pay’ rule.

“To set the records straight, the medical lecturers who are being referred to by the Chairperson of the ASUU UDUS branch, abstained from the eight-month strike of ASUU.

“This has been corroborated in a press statement by the Chairman, MDCAN UdUS, Dr B. Jubrin and Secretary, Dr I. G Ango, on Friday, November 4, 2022.”

Quoting from Dr Jubrin’s press statement, “Realising the emergency situation in the sub-region worsened by emerging public health threats, the medical and dental lecturers in UDUS decided to continue the academic activities during the ASUU strike to save our healthcare from total collapse.

“To this end, the UDUS medical lecturers agreed to conduct lectures and examinations during the period of the strike.

“In line with the provisions of the Labour Act, we wrote and sought the intervention of the Minister of Labour and Employment, to ensure payment of our salaries.

“The Minister, having carefully reviewed our submission and that of the university management, obliged. This is not an act of favouritism as alleged by ASUU, UDUS branch leadership in their press statement.

“ASUU, UDUS branch, as an association, is expected to protect the interest of all her members and appreciate the differences or peculiarities of medical education.

“The ASUU can legitimately fight for its lawful rights without tramping on the rights of others who are also university staff. We hope that this response will put issues in proper perspective.”

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