El-Rufai feels he is ‘more knowledgeable than everybody’

Chairman of the Academic Staff Union of universities, (ASUU), University of of Port Harcourt chapter, Dr Austen Sado, has described Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State as a man who feels he is more knowledgeable than everybody.

Commenting on the face-off between the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the administration of El-Rufai, Sado said he felt the governor should have handled the crisis better.

• Power: Nigerians spend $21bn on generators — Reps
• How 300 Libya-trained ISWAP fighters ‘conquered’ Shekau

He wondered why the governor announced that Ayuba Wabba, NLC President, had been declared wanted, saying alleging that the governor displayed arrogance to the masses during the strike.

“El-Rufai was presented to Nigerians as the purest of the technocrats in Nigeria right from the time of General Olusegun Obasanjo. I think based on that, he feels that he knows more than everybody. It is a big shame that somebody like El-Rufai would claim that he is sacking people,” he told PUNCH.

“He is even saying that lecturers should sign a register and bring it to the Commissioner for Education or the Commissioner for Finance on a daily basis. You can imagine that level of ignorance by a governor, who ought to know the application of the law.

“He has just shown how ignorant he is and Nigerians should understand that these people, who claim to be the elite in this society, know little or nothing.

“Can you imagine the level of arrogance that El-Rufai has exhibited in the way he has managed the affairs of the state? His level of arrogance is beyond understanding. Labour is asking for engagement and he is not engaging labour. You heard him say he has given an order for Ayuba Wabba’s arrest.

“If El-Rufai stands a popularity contest with Wabba in Nigeria, does he stand a chance close to Ayuba Wabba? Does he know what it means to be the president of a labour centre?”

On the threat by El-Rufai to sack some lecturers, Sado said it was wrong for governors to interfere in matters concerning university staff discipline.

According to him, the university is being administered by the Governing Council and the government cannot have direct interference in its day-to-day administration.