By Mahdi Waziri Isa
Few weeks after candidates of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Ahmadu Bello University branch, were defeated in a keenly contested congregation elections to Council, by candidates of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT), ASUU candidates in a surprise outing, swept three of the four senate seats to the institution’s governing council.
The four candidates anointed by the academic body, were Professor Al-Mustapha Aliyu Liman of College of Medical Sciences, Professor Junaid Kabir of Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Professor Musa Abdullahi Mahdi of Faculty of Agriculture and Professor Bello Bashir Magashi of the Faculty of Law.
Of the four ASUU candidates that were fielded to contest the council election, only Professor Magashi, who is the Dean of the institution’s faculty of Law lost the election.
The fourth candidate that won the fourth seat, Professor Bello Mukhtar of the faculty of Engineering, though an ASUU member, was not anointed by the Union, but contested as an independent candidate and won, thereby knocking Prof Magashi out.
The keenly contested Elections which took place today in the University’s Senate Chambers was free and fair.