A final year law student at the Benue State University, Soohemba Agatha Aker has filed a law suit before a Federal High Court against President Muhammadu Buhari, and the 36 state governors over alleged poor handling of the dispute between the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
Recall that the FG and ASUU have been at loggerheads since the latter embarked on a strike on February 14 to demand the federal government’s implementation of 2009 agreement, now codenamed FG/ASUU Agreement 2009.
The plaintiff is asking the court to stop the salaries and allowances of President Buhari, the 36 state governors, and all political office holders in the country until the final resolution and end of the strike.
She is also seeking similar order against the Chief of Staff to the President, Secretary to the government, all the Senators and the members of the House of Representatives, all the Ministers, Permanent Secretaries, heads of parastatals and extra ministerial bodies of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, all the Vice Chancellors and the members of Senate of striking Universities, as well as the salaries and allowances of striking universities and all the ASUU members.
In the fundamental right enforcement suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1684/2022, the applicant who said she is currently affected by the ongoing strike filed the action for herself on behalf of all students of public tertiary institutions currently affected by the nationwide ASUU strike.
In the suit filed by her counsel, Chukwuma-Machukwu Ume (SAN), the applicant listed the respondents to include the Federal Government of Nigeria, Registered Trustees of ASUU, President of the Senate, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the Governor of Abia State (also sued in his official capacity and in a representative capacity for all the other Governors of the 36 states of the federation).
The rest are the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), Federation of Account Allocation Committee (FAAC), Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, the Attorney General of Abia State (also sued in a representative capacity for all the other Attorney-Generals of the 35 States of the Federation), the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Abuja (also sued in a representative capacity for all the other Vice Chancellors and the Members of the Senate of both Federal and State Universities currently participating in the ongoing ASUU Strike) and Umar Faruk (President, National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS).
