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A coalition of civil societies, the Joint Action Front (JAF) has alleged plans by the management of the Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH) to scuttle the appearance of union leaders before the visitation panel.
JAF made the revelation soon after a magistrate court rejected a submission by one of the prosecuting lawyers that the court lack jurisdiction to entertain the case involving ten workers of LASPOTECH facing four counter-charge.
After the court hearing, JAF members and LASPOTECH workers staged a rally outside the court. The staff unions carried placards denouncing the trump-up charge and the move to prevent their leaders from defending their submission at the panel.
Addressing the rally, the National Coordinator, Education Rights Campaign (ERC), Hassan Taiwo decried the attempt by the prosecutor to get the case transfer to another court thus necessitating fresh bail conditions for the ten LASPOTECH union leaders, who are currently on bail granted by the magistrate court.
Taiwo gave kudos to Magistrate Olufunke Sule-Hamsat for insisting her court had the jurisdiction to hear the case. He urged the workers to remain steadyfast because the management of LASPOTECH could come up with another move to prevent the unions leaders from appearing before the visitation panel.
He recalled that when the case came up for hearing, the prosecutor failed to produce their witnesses because it was a ploy to bring new charges against the union leaders and arraign them before another court, an action that would make it difficult for them to meet the new bail conditions.
The representative of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), Abdulsalam Olugbenga described the four-count charge as a trumped-up charge against the LASPOTECH union leaders and said the prosecutor’s request was a ploy to re-arrest them and prevent them from appearing before the panel.
Chairman of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Polytechnics (SSANIP), Oluseye Evo-Philips, said the management of LASPOTECH is planning to re-arrest the ten workers to prevent the union leaders from defending their submission before the visitation panel.
He disclosed that while the staff unions were preparing their presentation at SSANIP secretariat, an attempt was made to disrupt the exercise and vowed to continue with the struggle until justice is attained.
