On Saturday, Feb. 4, Arise television anchor Oseni Rufai, claimed that no state governor visited President Muhammadu Buhari over the eight-month strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
The ace journalist, in a Twitter post reacting to the hardship being faced by Nigerians as a result of naira and fuel scarcity, accused Nigerian governors of not caring about the citizens of the country.
“ASUU was on strike for 8 months, Governors didn’t visit Buhari to end it, 5 months of fuel scarcity Governors didn’t visit President Buhari. Naira redesign that will stop vote buying, Governors go to visit Buhari to stop it. The question is do politicians truly care about you?” his tweet read.
As of the time of filing this report, the tweet has been seen by over one million Twitter users. While it has garnered over 16,000 retweets, it has been liked by nearly 35,000 netizens.
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Verification
ASUU embarked on strike on February 14, 2022, to protest poor funding of universities and demand an increment in members’ salaries.
For eight months, students were out of the classroom until the ASUU suspended the strike on October 14, 2022, following an appeal court order.
Though the federal government earlier threatened not to pay the lecturers for the strike period, it later said it would review the decision as ASUU asked its members to resume work immediately.
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Did governors visit Buhari over the strike?
In August 2022, Governors elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), known as members of the Progressives Governors Forum (PGF) visited President Buhari at the Presidential Villa, to discuss solutions to end the strike.
Speaking with journalists, the Chairman of the forum, Governor Abubakar Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi State, said that governors were ready to accept any negotiations with the striking lecturers that would lead to the resolution of the contentious issues.
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“We note the pronouncement of ASUU. We recall the appeal to the President of ASUU while we were visiting Daura that they should consider students’ future. We will not dwell on that now. We are ready to accept any negotiations for resolution.”
Those present include Abubakar Bagudu of Kebbi, Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos, Dr Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti, Abubakar Badaru of Jigawa, Dapo Abiodun of Ogun, Abubakar Bello of Niger, Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe, Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa and Deputy Governor of Ebonyi State, Dr Eric Igwe.
The meeting lasted about 30 minutes at the Council Chamber, Presidential Villa.
Verdict: Based on the above findings, it is wrong that governors did not visit Buhari during the ASUU strike. Therefore, Oseni Rufai LIED!
