The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abia State has condemned the suspension of Professor Nnamdi Nwaeze by Abia State University (ABSU) management over alleged Facebook posts about staff welfare, urging the state government to address the legitimate concerns raised rather than use disciplinary action to sidestep them.
APC Calls for Dialogue Over Suspension
Abia State APC Publicity Secretary, Uche Aguoru, made the party's position known while speaking to journalists in Umuahia on Friday, August 15. He argued that the suspension should not serve as a tool to silence genuine concerns about workers' pay and conditions at ABSU.
Aguoru called on the Abia State Government to look beyond the social media activity that triggered the disciplinary action and engage directly with the substance of what the professor raised. The party also urged the government to end what it described as the victimisation, intimidation, and harassment of public servants who speak out on workers' welfare, governance, and matters of public interest.
Transparency and Open Dialogue Demanded
The APC spokesman stressed the need for transparency and open dialogue, arguing that the issues affecting staff welfare at the university deserved a direct response from the government rather than institutional punishment against the person who raised them.
The party said the suspension had become particularly concerning amid reported industrial action and growing dissatisfaction among lecturers in the state's higher institutions.
In a statement, the party said: "We call on the university authorities and the state government to reverse this suspension, recall the professor and listen to the cries of university lecturers. They have suffered enough, and enough should really be enough."
Impact on Academic Careers and Education Quality
The party questioned how young Nigerians could be encouraged to pursue academic careers when university professors were struggling on salaries it described as inadequate to meet prevailing economic realities. It argued that the economic realities facing workers had made the situation unsustainable.
The APC warned that poor remuneration could undermine the quality of education and discourage young people from pursuing careers in academia. The party also alleged that lecturers in state-owned higher institutions were owed salaries, allowances, promotion arrears, and other entitlements.
Workers' Pay at the Centre of the Row
Punch reports that ABSU suspended Professor Nwaeze over Facebook posts relating to workers' pay, a decision the APC described as an inappropriate response to what it characterised as a legitimate grievance.
The controversy at ABSU centres on concerns about how staff are compensated and the conditions under which they work. Professor Nwaeze's posts drew the attention of university management, which moved to suspend him, but the action has now drawn public criticism from the main opposition party in the state.
Earlier, Legit.ng reported that the APC in Abia State had issued a sharp rebuke of Governor Alex Otti's administration after a National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report on Value Added Tax (VAT) collections for the first half of 2026 placed Abia at the bottom of all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory combined. VAT is collected incrementally across every stage of the supply chain and is widely regarded as a reliable barometer of commercial activity and consumer spending within a state.
