The branch chairperson, Prof. Sylvanus Ugoh, made the position known on Tuesday at a news conference in Abuja, following an emergency congress convened to deliberate on the dispute.
Ugoh accused the minister of disregarding a subsisting court order by allegedly allocating portions of the university’s land to companies and individuals on September 26.
He said Justice F.E. Mesiri of the Maitama High Court had, on August 18, granted an interlocutory injunction restraining the minister from entering or encroaching on the university’s land.
According to him, the university was established on January 1, 1988, with an initial allocation of 11,824 hectares to support its long-term academic, research and infrastructural development.
He maintained that the land belonged to the Federal Government and was not the property of the FCT Administration, adding that documentary evidence supported the university’s ownership claim.
The ASUU chairman argued that the land was necessary for future expansion, research institutes, innovation centres, environmental conservation and the institution’s dual-mode academic programmes.
He also dismissed arguments that the university had left much of its land undeveloped, citing the landholdings of the Universities of Ilorin, Obafemi Awolowo, Minna and Abeokuta as comparable examples.
Ugoh acknowledged the FCT minister’s commitment to infrastructure development but insisted that such efforts must respect the rule of law and the university’s institutional interests.
The union said it would resist any attempt to take over the land through lawful means and urged President Bola Tinubu to intervene by calling Wike to order.
The dispute raises broader concerns about the protection of public university assets, respect for judicial orders and the balance between urban development and the long-term infrastructure needs of federal institutions.
