WHILE WE WERE AWAY, THE GIANTS WERE MISCHIEVOUSLY AT PLAY
Dear AFASITES, welcome back to the second leg of the session! We hope the break was enjoyed and optimally utilized regardless of how short it was. As we know, the second semester comes up so fast and disappears before one can actually comprehend and get a grip of it. And yes, the press organ of the association is back to being your eyes and ears—your middleman body to relay to you budding and interesting stories revolving around departments, the faculty and the school at large. With about 10 weeks away from weekly publication, a whole lot had happened right under our very noses—the giants were mischievously playing a game of dice that had left the faculty in total disarray. Technically, there is a need to go down memory lane again to juggle our memory and retract some wrongfully withheld information that was obtained.
Before the tussle for the secretariat by the Faculty Legislative council (FLC) and the executive, two former principal officers of the FLC i.e. the Clerk and the Deputy Clerk, Oreoluwa Sodeke and Babayemi Ayomide, requested for twenty five thousand naira on behalf of the FLC. The president of the Association, Daniel Anagwaonye, who claimed he was told it was an order from above, granted the request and signed alongside the Financial Secretary, Victor Babarinde, a document releasing the money. When the money was released based on the order from above, one would expect the former Clerk and her deputy to inform the FLC about the money since it was needed because the FLC does not have a running budget. As at the time the resignation of both the Clerk and the Deputy Clerk were confirmed by the Acting Speaker, Rt. Honourable Olumide Osinuga, the FLC does not have a running budget except welfare budget. The money was collected and kept without the knowledge of any member of the FLC. Peter Olagunju, whose resignation the Sub-Dean had confirmed, claimed he never collected the money. But pending the outcome of the investigation being carried out by Honourable Salaudeen and his team, the integrity of Peter Olagunju remains questionable for. Albeit we could say the former Clerk and her deputy acted on their own accord, it is reasonable that the President would have called the Speaker to confirm their claim as the duo was not the leading figures in the FLC. Two defences gave been put up by some of the key actors in the deal. The first is that it was a pre-budget expense since the budget of the FLC was not ready at the time. The second is that it is an age long tradition for either the executive council, the Council of Presidents and Secretaries or the FLC to withdraw money for use without a budget being approved by the organ created for such purpose.
Now, between the time the twenty-five thousand naira was collected and the time it was known to other members of the FLC, no attempt was made at presenting the principal officers budget as it never appeared on the agenda of all the sittings had by the FLC during this period. Also, it did not appear anywhere in the principal officers budget presented by the Acting Speaker as pre-budget expenses, although the document itself is yet to be proven as authentic as it does not have a date unlike other budget. Because it has no date, it is not certain if it was written before or after July 3rd or whether or not it’s an invention of the Acting Speaker since he had admitted to writing and even stamping it, yet forgot to put a date. Besides, it has a total amount of nineteen thousand and ninety naira. Thus, the claim that it was needed to run the FLC before the approval of its budget is illogical and largely unreasonable.
Also, the claim that it is a tradition to allow any organ of the association withdraw money without budget is half-truth. In time past, it was only the executive council that could withdraw to carry out repairs in the secretariat before the beginning of each session. Yet, they are mandated to provide receipts for the expenditure it claimed to have incurred. Besides, it always appears in a section of the executive annual budget labelled as pre-budget expenses. If the FLC truly needs and resorted to a tradition that has almost been a privilege extended to only the executive council, one would have expected Peter Olagunju to have included in the agenda of one of the FLC sitting before this time budget defence by the principal officers. Thus, this claim too does not justify collection of the money and more especially why other members of the FLC were not informed about it for about two months.
Had the narratives not turned sour again at the brink of last semester exams, the issue could have been buried for a longer time. The executives had tended the second application of the ID card budget to the house and for reasons obtained from the speaker of the house, the budget came in at a time members were either preparing or writing exams. The sitting was therefore forestalled for proper consideration of a larger house. He was, however, made to act immediately because the executive had written an emergent letter copying the Sub Dean, Dr. (Bar.) Oke— the latter who had explicitly told him to call for a ‘sitting’ even if it was going to be an emergent one. The action that however, played out at the end was a Kangaroo sitting— a sitting solely consisting of principal officers in which the press had mistakenly taken for an actual sitting and had gone ahead to report the approval of the second budget on ID card that faithful day. It is absolutely true that in Politics, a lot of issues are consciously swept under the carpet and a few things are let out to the public on “what they should hear” and “not what they should know”. It is very vital to state at this point that the approval made at the Kangaroo sitting was smartly acknowledged by the executives but they refused to act on it.
At this stage, it appeared that members of the house had caught a whiff of the money that was obtained by the Clerk on the demand of the Speaker at the beginning of the semester much to their horror. Honourables and other principal officers who were not aware of this scheme grudgingly held their rants and made the political caucus (Team Speaker and Team Deputy Speaker) in the house more pronounced. What is yet to be confirmed, however, is if the money obtained in close corner by the Speaker, Deputy Clerk and the Clerk were genuinely used for the actual purpose it was intended for. Perhaps, this was not the case as the executives’ claim that the house was yet to give an account of the money they got. This ironically recollects how the Deputy Speaker, Olumide Osinuga, had reinforced on the need for the executives to give an account on the first Budget of ID cards that was approved during the Kangaroo sitting. The speaker, Hon. Peter Olanguju, had witfully mentioned that such a move would be catastrophic and would only mandate the clerk to pass on a letter to erring executive office holders. Two indeed can play the game.
A blind man could foresee that something had gone amiss and rational individual would took in the statement released by the speaker’s spokesperson on how the money was judiciously used as against the suspicions that it had gone down their hollow pockets. It could therefore be said that the Kangaroo meeting was political in every sense. It was gathered that the executives had turned in the budget for the Second ID cards early September and did not call for a sitting till he was called up by the Subdean. The speaker had perhaps, taken this route to prevent a scandal or uproar by honourables who were now fully agitated that they were left in the dark about the enclosed funds.
ON THE RESIGNATION OF PRINCIPAL OFFICERS AND SPOKESPERSON
The sudden resignation of the FLC Speaker, Hon. Peter Olagunju; the Deputy Clerk, Babayemi Ayomide; Clerk, Sodeke Oreoluwa; and Spokesperson, Itiolu Micheal in the past couple of weeks is by chance a no fool’s game. No reason has actually been attached to the Speaker’s resignation. He had only gone ahead to tender his resignation on the FLC group page and informed the Sub dean about his decision. As we would know, a student could resign from a post due to a number of reasons. It could be as a result of a failing academic performance, business, personal reasons, or committal of a gruesome offence in order to escape suspension or impeachment by the right authorities. Did the Speaker and the rest of his squad resigned because they were afraid of impeachment by the house or SDC? For now, we cannot be certain on how the money obtained by the clerk of the house was used and if it can serve as a yardstick to access the house division. We can only make deductions on why four principals’ officers who were in the know of the funds resigned simultaneously and then suddenly became invincible and unreachable like the wind.
As it stands, other organs of the association—the executives and Council of President and Secretaries (CPS) are yet to accept this mocking resignation until an official statement is tendered by the aforementioned individuals. In the light of this farce, the vacant posts will have to be filled on Wednesday, 13th of November.
ON THE FAILURE OF HONOURABLES AND CPS MEMBERS TO PAY BASIC DUES
It is appalling that those who are meant to paddle the affairs of the association are yet to fulfill all that is expected of them before making dictations and rulings on issues. In a bid to sit on the second ID budgets, the staff adviser, Dr. Adams Akewula, had demanded that a proper sitting was held. Only then will he append his signature to approved budgets. Several letters were written to members of the house to sit on the budget but alas, the formulated caucus in the house had prevented some members from yielding to the invite. In the course of this drama, it was realised that some members of the FLC had not paid their basic dues which boils down to the fact that some members in the house were gallantly deliberately on money they were not even a contributor of. This also meant that there was no one to scrutinize members of the house to ascertain for their eligibility before becoming honourables. Where was the CPS in all of this? But alas, they also were not found wanting in the list of AFASITES who were yet to pay their basic dues. What we are therefore faced with are forerunners of the association who are ordinarily yet to satisfy the basic requirement of being an AFASITE, how then can the association make a ruling on other students in the faculty who were yet to pay? The staff adviser, however, has consented to notify all heads of departments (HODs) on students who were yet to pay their basic dues.
RESOLUTIONS MADE AT THE STAKE HOLDERS FORUM
Resolutions were made for the FLC to get the letters of resignation from some principal officers who are yet to resign officially. The FLC is also expected to conduct fresh elections to fill up the vacancies which will be witnessed by the CPS as soon as the resignation of the principal officers is made official.
The Deputy Speaker, Hon. Olumide Osinuga, who is currently acting as the speaker of the house agreed to the resolution made and stated that the house will be sitting on Wednesday 13th of November 2019 to further put things in order so that the date of the election will be decided.
Furthermore, the President of AFAS, Mr. Daniel Anagwaonye, pleaded that the budget for the production of ID cards for AFASITES be looked into so that AFASITES can get it as soon as possible. In lieu of his plea, the Staff adviser has asked the acting speaker, Hon. Olumide Osinuga, to call for an emergency sitting so that the ID card production could be finalized. An emergency meeting was called for by 3: 30pm on Friday to scrutinize the ID card budget which was presented by the faculty president this time around. After due scrutiny of the budget, the sum of Two Hundred and Ten thousand naira only (N210, 000.00) was approved by the FLC for the production of 700 ID cards which will be produced at the cost of three hundred naira per unit. A motion was moved by the house for the president to report to the house to give account of the execution of the budget.
After all said and done, it beckons on one to make due reference to Martin Luther King Jr. quote on how our lives end the day we choose to become silent about things that matter. This quote has never been more apt in recent happenings in the faculty. Quotes are often thrown around to make a point or prove someone correct, but this one really says something about who we are, and who we should be. If we are not busy impeaching presidents, we are either masterminding fraudulent acts in the faculty or showing off power. Every action taken by principal officers of the house, honourables, the CPS or the executives would not leave the memory lane of AFASITES. Different times and seasons will emerge but the actions of leaders in the association to the common students will always be made reference to. The theft actions of Isaac Lijadu and the activism of Ojo Aderemi are two different stories never be forgotten as history will constantly remind us. If we want truth and accountability, we break the silence. While we stand at akimbo waiting for an official statement from the Speaker of the house, we also wait to see how the house picks of her pieces since his resignation and maintain order.