How late Jeyifo tried to resolve ASUU 2016 crisis – CONUA President

2026-03-05 - 16:37

Urges ASUU to honour him with truth By Adesina Wahab The National President of the Congress of University Academics, CONUA, Dr Niyi Sunmonu, has lauded the late literary giant, Prof. Biodun Jeyifo, for his efforts at resolving the crisis that engulfed the Obafemi Awolowo University Branch of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, in 2016. The crisis eventually led to the formation of CONUA which was later registered as an academic staff union in Nigerian university system. This is just as Sunmonu has urged ASUU to honour the late Jeyifo with the truth. Sunmonu, in a statement he signed, was reacting to the National President of ASUU , Prof. Chris Piwuna’s tributes to Jeyifo which was published in the media early this week. While agreeing that Piwuna’s tributes to the deceased was a welcome addition to the series of tributes paid to Jeyifo to acknowledge his impactful life, Sunmonu said the tribute was not accurate. “However, the ASUU President’s tribute is bedevilled with inaccuracies with respect to Prof. Jeyifo’s tireless efforts to resolve the crisis that engulfed the Obafemi Awolowo University Branch of ASUU (ASUU-OAU) in 2016 – 2017. The Congress of University Academics (CONUA) is therefore issuing this rejoinder for two reasons. “First, as the famous African-American civil rights advocate, Malcolm X, said, “A people who don’t control their own story will always live in someone else’s lie.” Following this principle, our union produced “The CONUA Story” which is a detailed account of the founding and progression of the union and can be found on the CONUA website. “Second, this rejoinder is motivated by the desire to sanctify Prof Jeyifo’s memory with the truth. All through his public life, Prof. Jeyifo was never known to bow before or acquiesce to oppression. “He would turn for joy in his grave” to see a sturdy CONUA standing up to honour his memory. “For the sake of historical accuracy, completeness, and respect for Prof. Jeyifo’s legacy, certain aspects of the ASUU President’s intervention require clarification. Prof. Jeyifo did not limit himself to expressing regret in his 2018 convocation lecture at OAU, where he described the branch as being in a state of profound and crippling crisis despite being the birthplace of ASUU. “He went much further. Between late 2018 and 2019, he personally relocated to Ile-Ife and engaged multiple stakeholders over several weeks, including three separate meetings with the group within ASUU that later formed CONUA. “Those of us who sat with him during those meetings, and that was indeed a rare privilege, recall clearly his final assessment. He stated with characteristic candour that ASUU national leadership bore greater responsibility for the breakdown of his reconciliation efforts. He expressed deep concern that some of the information presented to him earlier did not reflect the full realities of the situation. “He also believed the most viable path forward was fair assimilation without punishment. In his view, such an approach could have served as a genuine rebirth for the union rather than a permanent fracture. He presented these recommendations to ASUU-NEC on 2nd March 2019, describing the OAU crisis as the most critical in the union’s history.” The CONUA boss recalled that Jeyifo even called for the recall of members that were expelled by the OAU Brach of ASUU soa s to douse tension, but that the suggestion was not heeded. “It is in that same spirit that we remember his 2019 intervention: not as a failed mediation, but as a courageous attempt to call both sides to fairness and renewal. His withdrawal from the process, when he realised deception had undermined trust, was itself an act of integrity, a refusal to lend his name to half-measures. Among the many moments that illustrated his commitment to dialogue was this: he stated at one of our meetings, conducted in an atmosphere of mutual respect and open exchange, that ASUU was not formed as a union that expelled members, a direct reminder of the union’s founding ethos. This atmosphere of mutual respect and open conversation does not point to any fundamental disagreement between Prof. Jeyifo and those of us who formed CONUA. He also explicitly asked for our minimum requirement to return to ASUU. We told him plainly: the withdrawal of the letters of expulsion from our members. That requirement was presented to ASUU leadership. Regrettably, it was not acted upon. It is important to state that the idea of CONUA did not precede the expulsion; it followed it. “Prof. Jeyifo’s call for renewal, not through absorption or erasure, but through building a model that serves academics, students, and the university system without unnecessary disruption. Today, the reality of pluralism in the academic space is no longer a matter for debate: “it is a fact. CONUA remains committed to healthy competition and mutual cooperation with all unions on issues of common interest: funding, pension reform, academic freedom, and institutional integrity. We do not seek to supplant or divide; we seek to complement and strengthen. “Prof. Jeyifo’s legacy is too important to be reduced to a one-sided narrative. He stood for truth, fairness, and the courage to name power imbalances even when inconvenient. We honour that legacy, as he is buried this week, by continuing to build responsibly and transparently, and by refusing to stay silent when the record needs correction.”