Lecturers in the Abubakar Tatari Ali Polytechnic (ATAP) in Bauchi state have dissociated themselves from alleged character assassination against the executive secretary of Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) Professor Suleiman Bogoro by one of them in newspapers.
Blueprint gathered that an aggrieved lecturer one Dr Ibrahim Sunusi was among those to be sponsored abroad by TETFUND for studies but were not given the school fees hence, he went berserk.
Addressing journalists on Monday, spokesperson of the stranded lecturers Mr Osifo Aibuedefe Stephen flanked by his colleagues denounced that Dr Sunusi is not following due process in pursuing the case opining that he should have pursued his entitlements through the school management.
He said the stranded lecturers who were supposed to be sponsored for studies in 2015, 2016 and 2017, are 22 in number revealing that many of them were given inadequate money by TETFUND and had to sell their properties to take care of themselves during the studies.
However, he said that the new TETFUND boss professor Bogoro who is an indigent of the state has promised to compensate the affected lecturers adding that the series of newspaper publications by Dr Sunusi were not with their consent.
“We denounce and dissociate ourselves from Dr Ibrahim Sunusi’s excesses. That he is not recognized as the spokesperson for the stranded scholars in Abubakar Tatari Ali Polytechnic, Bauchi.
“That we are not privy to any of the publications made by Dr Ibrahim Sunusi in Nigerian dailies.” He said.
When contacted, Dr Ibrahim Sunusi claimed that he was not speaking on behalf of ATAP lecturers but was authorized by stranded lecturers in over 60 public tertiary institutions across the country.
According to him, over 560 lecturers nationwide were affected and that as secretary of their union called TETFUND stranded lecturers, he has every right to speak for the victims.
