The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), refuted a rumor that it had labeled state-owned universities as being substandard (quacks).
On Friday, several media outlets were bombarded with responses to what was allegedly said by Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, the president of ASUU, that state universities are quacks and shouldn’t be taken seriously.
Recall that on Thursday, Professor Osodeke came on Arise TV and spoke about a few problems related to the continuing strike that ASUU began more than six months ago.
The ASUU president had remarked; “Talk about important universities, not those quacks,” in reference to the State universities that recently withdrew from the strike. “They do not participate in our strike,” he said.
In response to the development, some State universities and worried Nigerians condemned the ASUU president for purportedly calling State universities “quack.”
Also responding to the news yesterday, was the vice chancellor of Osun State University (UNIOSUN), Professor Odunayo Clement Adebooye, who called the president of ASUU a reckless talker for labeling universities that are not on strike as “quacks.”
Read: KASU condemns ASUU President’s ‘quack university’ comment, asks members to withdraw
The State University, according to Professor Adebooye, has 481 full-time academic staff members, 387 of them possess full-time doctoral degrees, thus “this is not a quack.”
The ASUU president, however, refuted the news on Saturday in an interview with DAILY POST, claiming that the media had misquoted him.
Osodeke said that he was only talking to the three State-owned universities that are not currently on strike.
Osodeke called the report phony and bemoaned the lack of professionalism in reporting, suggesting that it was done to confuse the system.
He said, “There is nothing like that. It is a lie. I have told myself that I will not talk to the press again because they always misrepresent things.
“I have found out that Nigerian press is specialized in manipulating interviews, reporting what someone did not say just to create confusion in the system. They won’t report things the way it is”.
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