Members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) around the Yola zone, Adamawa State, have said they will not accept any plea from Nigerians to shelve an impending strike.

In a press conference at the NUJ secretariat in Yola on Friday, the Yola Zone said Nigerians should blame the Federal Government for its failure to comply with the renegotiation of the 2009 agreement.

Members of the ASUU, Yola chapter, comprising those at Adamawa State University (ADSU) Mubi, Federal University Gashua (FUGA), Modibbo Adama University (MAU) Yola, Taraba State University (TSU) Jalingo, University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID), and Yobe State University (YSU) Damaturu, said their decision is in the best interest of Nigerian universities.

The ASUU Yola Zonal Coordinator, Comrade Reuben Jonathan, said the Zone convened at the Modibbo Adama University in Yola on Thursday and reviewed the Memorandum of Action (MoA) entered into with the Federal Government on December 23rd, 2020, after prolonged strike action by the union.

Reuben said ASUU was displeased with nonchalant attitudes displayed by government functionaries even after countless calls to address the issues in dispute.

“Recall that in our previous press conference here in Yola on September 15th, 2021, we briefed you on the Government’s refusal and foot-dragging in implementing the said Agreement. Since then, nothing has been done by the Government to address the issues besides propaganda and blackmail.

”The issues remain: Renegotiation of the 2009 Agreement and all efforts by the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the promise made to address the issue of Renegotiation have not yielded any result so far.

“The refusal of the Government to address the issue of Renegotiation has left us on the same salary for 12 years even as the Government has reviewed the minimum wage twice,” Reuben said.

On other failures of the Federal Government which ASUU holds responsible for their consideration for strike action, Reuben said, “On Earned Academic Allowances (EAA), the entitlement was to be paid at the latest in May and June 2021, but as of this moment, nothing has been released to that effect.

“Recall that our union has developed a robust and dynamic system known as the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) which is a better alternative to the pro-corruption Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).

“UTAS has been subjected to and passed all the integrity tests without any shortcomings, but beneficiaries of corruption-laden IPPIS have continued to ensure that UTAS does not see the light of day, thereby subjecting our members to hardship.”

Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, has said that he won’t be resigning over the frequent jail breaks in the country in the past one year.

Responding to questions from State House reporters after the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Wednesday December 8, the Minister stated that there’s no need for calls for his resignation because it wasn’t for lack of preparedness that the attacks were successful.

Aregbesola revealed that the security around Correctional Centres will be stepped up, following jail breaks in Owerri, Oyo, Kabba and Jos in the last few months.

He said;

“As to whether it calls for my resignation, I still don’t see any need for that because it’s not for lack of preparedness that the attacks were successful. No.

“What I can assure Nigerians is this. Yes, as contextual as these attacks and the successes such criminals are having, we are upping our game and we will not allow, we will prevent any such opportunistic attack and even make it impossible. And that is what the state must do.

“We are working with all arms of government particularly the security to make our custodial facilities impregnable. We will not rest until that is achieved. That’s the assurance I want to give Nigerians”.

The Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, on Wednesday, accused Nigerian security agents of planting Improvised Explosive Devices, IEDs, across the Southeast.

Spokesman of IPOB, Emma Powerful, claimed that the IEDs were planted to implicate its members and militia arm, the Eastern Security Network, ESN.

Powerful was reacting to a statement by the Nigerian Army and Police that IPOB and ESN planted IEDs in Awo-Mmamma, Oru East Local Government Area of Imo State.

In a statement he signed, Powerful said the claim by the Army and police that they thwarted IPOB and ESN attacks using IEDs were false because the explosives are not from the separatist group.

According to Powerful: “The attention of the global family of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) ably led by our great liberator and prophet, Mazi Nnamdi KANU, has been drawn to the fallacious and laughable, statement from the Nigeria Army and Police, claiming that IPOB/ESN operatives planted IED in Awo-Mmamma and its nearby community, Mgbidi in Oru East of Imo State.

“The purported statement and false propaganda that troops thwarted IPOB/ESN attacks on two Imo communities and uncovered IEDs should be disregarded. This is another desperate but futile attempt by the Nigerian security agencies to implicate IPOB and ESN operatives. It, however, did not come to us as a surprise because it has been their stock in trade. This is another blatant falsehood.

“For the records, IPOB and ESN operatives never planted, and have no plans to plant IEDs in any part of Biafra land. ESN since its inauguration by our leader Mazi Nnamdi KANU in December last year has never engaged in any terrorist activity. Its mandate has not changed: protection of our ancestral land against Fulani herdsmen and bandits attacks.

“It’s only ridiculous for the security agencies to try to link IPOB or ESN with the planting of IEDs, when in fact Nigerians know who those who plant IEDs are. Planting explosives is the signature tune of the Fulani terrorists and bandits.

“Assuming but not in any way admitting this idiotic trash, if we should resort to the planting of IEDs, who do we want to kill? What do we want to achieve? How can we be stupid to begin to plant bombs that will kill our people whom we are staking our lives daily to protect and defend against Fulani terrorists?

“To further punctuate their lies, how come these shameless liars claiming to be security agents are only swift in discovering IEDs purportedly planted by IPOB and ESN but fail to detect the same IEDs planted by Fulani bandits and terrorists which have claimed thousands of lives in the North including security operatives themselves although mainly from Southern Nigeria? It is now clear that these terrorists in military and police uniforms are working in cahoot with their rag-tag counterparts in the forests to achieve the same agenda. While they keep betraying Southern troops serving in the North, these jihadists and terrorists in security uniforms deployed to Biafra land are now busy planting IEDs in their desperation to implicate IPOB and ESN.