Pressure mounts on Sanwo-Olu to reinstate dismissed LASU lecturers, seven years after

Seven years after the dismissal of five lecturers at Lagos State University (LASU), there are renewed calls for the state government to reinstate them.

The lecturers, leaders of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in the school, Isaac Oyewumi (chairperson), Adebowale Adeyemi-Suenu (vice-chairperson), Anthony Dansu (secretary), Adeolu Oluwaseyi Oyekan (assistant secretary), and Oluwakemi Aboderin-Shonibare (treasurer), were dismissed during the university governing council’s 122nd meeting on 12 September 2019.

Dubbed ‘LASU Five,’ they were accused of unauthorised removal and dissemination of confidential documents.

However, despite a recommendation by the university’s governing council to reinstate the sacked lecturers, the state government and the university have yet to reinstate them.

Renewed call

The lecturers, in a statement on Saturday, described the waiting period and their dismissal as unjust and renewed their call to the state government to reinstate them unconditionally.

Speaking for the sacked lecturers, Mr Dansu said they carry no bitterness or regret. He said they remain committed to fairness, the truth and justice.

“Some disappointed (in some cases, the least expected persons); others, sent by God, appeared and gave even more than desired support. Such is the mystery of the journey; where men withdraw, Providence sometimes speaks,” he said.

Mr Dansu noted that he is certain that the case “will end in praise.”

“Seven years is not the end of a story. Sometimes, it is merely the silence before the final chapter.”

Refusal to reinstate the lecturers

In February 2022, the David Sunmoni-led Governing Council of the university reinstated the lecturers after an Appeal Committee headed by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Adenike Boyo, cleared the lecturers of all offences and recommended their reinstatement.

But in a strange move, 48 hours after the council approved its appeal committee’s recommendation, the same governing council ruled to put the recall of the lecturers on hold.

ALSO READ: Nigerian university dismisses two lecturers over inhumane harassment, misconduct

Over the past seven years, the affected lecturers and various professional associations have staged demonstrations in Lagos to demand their reinstatement. In a 2025 appeal to Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the Concerned Sons and Daughters of Ikoga-Zebbe Kingdom in Badagry urged him to intervene and “lift the embargo his government placed on the implementation of the decision of the LASU Governing Council on 23 February 2022.”

“…To the effect that our illustrious son Tony Dansu, and other four ASUU-LASU officials that were wrongfully and illegally dismissed from the services of the university in 2017 and 2019 be reinstated unconditionally,” the statement said.