Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State is trying to use force against striking lecturers in the state-owned tertiary institution.
He has threatened to sack the striking members of Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, of Kaduna State University, KASU, and declare their positions vacant if they refused to return to classrooms.
The governor who spoke on a live radio programme yesterday night, among others, said: “ASUU has problem with the Federal Government, not the state government. The Acting Vice Chancellor has assured me that they will resume and I have asked them to find out if they actually resumed work because I initially instructed that their salary be stopped.
“But I was later told they didn’t join the strike; so I asked that it should be investigated and those that collected salary and joined the strike will be asked to refund the salary. This is because Nigeria’s law says ‘no work, no pay’. This is the law. So whoever joined the strike will not be paid salary. We have been telling the KASU lecturers that they have no problem with state government. ASUU’s problem is with the Federal Government; therefore, why will our staff who have no problems with us join the strike?
“If this continues, I will wake up one day to sack them all, I swear to God. We will sack them all and declare their positions vacant on the pages of newspaper. They once did same thing and we gave them warning, now they repeated it. I’m only waiting to receive the report from the Commissioner for Education. I swear to God, we will sack all those that joined the strike if they refuse to resume work.”
Speaking on the aftermath of the APC Presidential primaries, he said he and other APC governors were fully in support of the Tinubu-Shettima ticket and would work assiduously for their success in 2023 because they have proven to be good leaders as governos in their respective states.
El-Rufai, however, said he was not appointed Director-General D-G of the Tinubu campaign as was insinuated, but saddled with an assignment on the campaign processes of which he and his other colleagues would later meet together with the party chairman to deliberate upon.
He called on the people of Kaduna State and Nigerians never to vote for PDP again, accusing PDP members of embezzlement and owning houses overseas. On the rumour that he had threatened to leave the APC, the Kaduna State Governor said he was among those who midwifed the birth of APC, the party he now considered as his 20th child.
“How can a father leave his daughter? I will never abandon the APC,” he said.
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