ASUU Strike: PDP’s Deal Cause Of Present Crisis- Keyamo

Category:  Nigeria News

The spokesman for the Presidential Campaign Council of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Festus Keyamo, has said ASUU is on strike because of the 2009 agreement signed by the Peoples Democratic Party-led government.

Keyamo stated this during an interview on Trust TV’s Daily Politics on Monday.

He said in the 16 years of PDP administration, 1999-2015, ASUU was on strike 12 times, amounting to 900 days. 

READ: ASUU Strike: FG Can’t Borrow Money To Please Them - Keyamo

“The ASUU thing you are talking about. What is the problem of ASUU now? It’s the 2009 agreement signed by PDP government. They signed agreements with ASUU they couldn’t fulfill. We had to inherit those agreements and now struggling to renegotiate those agreements.

“Imagine how irresponsible a government can be when they went into agreements with ASUU and signed conditions that they couldn’t fulfill and that is why ASUU is on strike so let us tell Nigerians that ASUU is not on strike because APC signed an agreement with them. It was the PDP that signed the agreement.

“We are not shifting blame; we are going to tackle the problem. Between 1999 and 2015 when they handed over to the APC, ASUU was on strike 12 times. I have the statistics amounting to 900 days.” 

READ: ASUU Strike: Lawyer Asks Dangote, Otedola To Pay FG Debts

But responding, the spokesperson for the (PDP) presidential campaign, Daniel Bwala, who appeared on Trust TV alongside Keyamo, said during the PDP government when ASUU or any of the labor unions was on strike, there were constructive engagements between the parties.

He said, “Ask Adams Oshiomhole who was the Lord Lugard of labor unionism of that time. He was very blunt, strong and constant on that.

“In all of those periods when they were on strike either by ASUU or any of the labor unions around the time of PDP, there were constructive engagement, which means all parties were honest, realistic. 

READ: Prolonged ASUU Strike: Group Threatens Nationwide Protest

“The argument ASUU is making on all occasions when they were on strike this present government shifts the goal post.”