A former President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Dipo Fasina, popularly known as ‘Jingo,’ has been found.
Earlier it was reported by PREMIUM TIMES that Fasina had been missing since Saturday, July 1, 2023.
Fasina was reportedly travelling to Algeria at the invitation of the Algerian government when he missed his connecting flight from Istanbul, Turkey.
But on Sunday, the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission confirmed that Fasina had been located.
NiDCOM and incumbent ASUU president, Prof. Emmanuel Sodeke, earlier confirmed to PREMIUM TIMES that Fasina’s whereabouts were unknown.
Osodeke however, added that the lecturers’ union was working hard to ensure Fasina’s safe return home.
But in a statement issued by NiDCOM on Sunday afternoon titled ‘Update On The Missing Ex-ASUU President, Dipo Fasina ‘Jingo’, said the academic had been found.
It said, “He has been found.
“The Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, in collaboration with the Nig high commission in Turkey, has successfully located Prof Fasina who went missing for a few days at Istanbul Airport while connecting on a flight back home.
“Mr. Fasina, 76, was traveling to Algeria when he was said to have missed his connecting flight from Istanbul, Turkey.
“The Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, in collaboration with the Nig high commission in Turkey, has successfully located Prof Fasina who went missing for a few days at Istanbul Airport while connecting on a flight back home.
“A big thanks to the Nigerian Ambassador to Turkey who immediately sent officials to the Airport to physically locate him in the very busy and huge Istanbul Airport.”
Fasina, a polyglot, reportedly speaks Yoruba, English, French, Russian, and Ukrainian. He also reads and translates German and Spanish.
Fasina was the founding coordinator of the Philosophy Department of the Ogun State University (now Olabisi Onabanjo University).
According to reports, he directed that his honorarium be used to establish the departmental library.
Fasina’s activism got him into trouble with the Nigerian government on multiple occasions. In 1986, he was detained by the Ibrahim Babangida regime. In 2001, he was elected National President of ASUU, during which he led one of the longest strikes by academics in Nigeria’s history.
Fasina once had an altercation with President Olusegun Obasanjo in the Presidential Villa, with the President getting angry at a point and walking out during their meeting.