The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has distanced itself from the reported endorsement of a political candidate by a group of Northern lecturers, insisting that the union remains strictly apolitical.
ASUU President, Prof. Chris Piwuna, said the union neither endorses political parties nor supports candidates for elective offices, stressing that its constitution does not permit such partisan positions.
Reacting to the endorsement, Piwuna described attempts to link ASUU with the political declaration as misleading.
According to him, individual members of the union are constitutionally free to belong to political parties or support candidates of their choice, but such activities must be undertaken strictly in their personal capacities.
“We will never take such positions, going by our constitution. They cannot mention ASUU. Nobody can mention ASUU in that context because we’re apolitical. Our members can belong to any political party that they want,” he said.
Piwuna added that lecturers are entitled to exercise their political rights under Nigerian law but warned that their individual choices should not be presented as the official position of ASUU.
“They can do whatever they want to do under the law. We have never, and we will never endorse any political party candidate. Nobody should drag us into such things,” he stated.
The ASUU president also cautioned members and other academics against dragging the union into controversies surrounding political endorsements.
“Neither our members nor our comrades should drag us into that controversy. We have never done it and we will never do it. We’re apolitical and we retain that apolitical position,” he said.
Piwuna further drew a distinction between the activities of university lecturers as individuals and actions officially sanctioned by the union.
He cited the participation of academics in election duties as an example, noting that lecturers who serve as electoral officers do so in their individual or institutional capacities and not as representatives of ASUU.
“It is the same mistake people make when lecturers go to participate in electoral duties and they will say ASUU members are participating in electoral duties. It is misleading,” he said.
According to him, ASUU does not deploy its members to work as election officials and should therefore not be associated with the conduct or decisions of lecturers who participate in electoral activities.
“It is misleading because ASUU has not sent anybody outside to participate in the electoral duties or serve as electoral officers,” Piwuna added.
He also noted that some senior university officials, including vice-chancellors, may participate in electoral processes despite having disagreements with the union on their respective campuses.
“You can imagine heads of institutions like vice-chancellors that are always fighting us on campus; when they go out and do something, they will say they are our members. Meanwhile, these are the people fighting the union,” he said.
Piwuna reiterated that ASUU’s position remains unchanged, declaring that the union would not endorse candidates belonging to any political party.
“We don’t endorse candidates of political parties,” he said.
