The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has sued Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, over the registration of Congress of University Academics (CONUA) and National Association of Medical and Dental Academics (NAMDA).

Mr Ngige was listed as the first defendant while CONUA and NAMDA were listed as the third and fourth defendants, according to the court documents seen by Peoples Gazette.

The suit filed at the National Industrial Court on Tuesday sought a declaration that “the 1st Defendant is not competent to register the 3rd and 4th defendants [respectively] to co-exist alongside and carry out the same functions with the claimant in the universities in Nigeria” citing Sections 40 [2] of the Constitution of the Federal Republic Of Nigeria 1999 as amended and Sections 3 [2] and 5 [4] of the Trade Unions Act.

The claimant, ASUU, prayed the industrial court to declare the certificate of registration issued to CONUA and NAMDA illegal.

“That the certificate of registration issued by the 2nd Defendant to the 3rd and 4th Defendants on or about the 4th day of October 2022 to function as trade unions in the universities in Nigeria is illegal, null and void and of no effect whatsoever,” partly read the lawsuit filed by Femi Falana, ASUU’s lawyer. 

It is believed the Muhammadu Buhari regime registered both CONUA and NAMDA as a calculated move to reduce the influence of ASUU, over its then-refusal to call off the eight months strike.