Ekpekpo: ASUU And The Cost Of Silence

By Moses Darah
January 12, 2026

Perhaps the most troubling silence in this tragedy is that of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). Prof. Arthur Ekpekpo is not only an Okuama leader; he is a scholar, a colleague, and a member of Nigeria’s academic community. Yet, since his detention without trial, ASUU, an organisation renowned for its loud defence of academic freedom, rule of law, and human rights, has offered no public outrage, no protest, and no formal demand for his release.

ASUU has never hesitated to shut down Universities in defence of principles. It has issued communiqués against injustice, condemned authoritarian excesses, and mobilised nationwide action when lecturers’ rights were threatened. Why then has it gone mute when one of its own has been held in military custody in defiance of a court order?

In all our meetings throughout the nearly two years of Prof. Ekpekpo’s detention, the ASUU–DELSU chapter has never once listed his case on its agenda. This troubling omission speaks volumes, especially for a union that prides itself on defending academic freedom, human rights, and the welfare of its members. The sustained silence is not only disappointing but also undermines ASUU’s moral authority and historic role as the conscience of the Nigerian university system.

Silence in the face of injustice is not neutrality; it is complicity. By failing to speak, ASUU risks sending a dangerous message, that the unlawful detention of an academic can be overlooked if it occurs far from the lecture halls or outside the usual labour disputes. This silence weakens the moral force of the union’s future interventions and erodes its long-claimed identity as the conscience of the Nigerian University system.

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Prof. Ekpekpo’s continued detention is not merely an Okuama issue; it is an assault on the rule of law and the sanctity of intellectual freedom. ASUU owes its members, and the nation, a clear and courageous stance. History will remember not only the voices that spoke against injustice, but also the institutions that chose to remain silent when speaking mattered most.