Prime’s (un)suspension and the shroud of secrecy that surrounds it

Oluwapelumi King

On 20th of October 2022, practically the whole world was thrown into shock as the news of Liz Truss’ resignation as Prime Minister after just 45 days spread across mainstream media around the world. June 18, 1972, news started to filter out that President Nixon of the United States was linked to the Watergate scandal after one of the burglars which broke into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at Washington, D.C, and Watergate office building was linked to Nixon’s campaign. The whole world was shocked. Now, the AFAS executive administration is trying to replicate this level of shock with its secretive political activities.

It all started when it was announced by Akoem, the current president of AFAS in the meeting between all arms of the faculty with the Executive council (note: the Sports director was not in this meeting) that Alawiye Israel, a 300-level student of Philosophy and current Sports’ director has been suspended by the Executive arm of the body and a letter had been submitted to the effect to the FLC for investigation. Note that the Chief whip and one other representative from the FLC were present and raised no objections to it (this piece of information will be very critical in the latter parts of the story, take note). He backed this with the constitution making it categorically clear that the constitution gives him the power as the President to suspend any Executive member who did not attend three consecutive meetings without the prior notice of the President, and put another Executive member in place (sidebar: while the constitution made provisions for the absenteeism of a executive member in three consecutive meetings, the current AFAS constitution grants the President no such powers, rather it provides that such executive members should resign from office). He claimed that Alawiye Israel, alias Prime has been operating on his own, not attending meetings, and being rude to him and other members of the Executive. He claimed Prime had already been sanctioned by the Executive after he left the Executives’ WhatsApp group for 6 months. According to him, Prime had to be finally suspended by the Executive after he failed to appear for a physical meeting after the strike was called off. He also claimed the suspension was the reason the rest of the Executive arm did not promote the upcoming Super 4 competition and inter-level competition.

Note how Prime is not in this picture. This picture was one of the pictures taken after an executive meeting (after the strike) as stated in the AFAS’ Instagram account. (NB: He is not the only absentee but the prime focus of this article…) https://www.instagram.com/p/CiIpqH6IrNY/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

One thing that made the whole sanction affair unbelievably intrusive and secretive is the Press not being copied in the Sanction letter. It was only sent to the FLC. Note, he claimed the Press was not copied in the letter to avoid it being published, broadcasted, and under wraps. In other words, he wanted it to be a secret affair. Why? The answer can be deduced later on.
He pleaded with the Press to refrain from publishing until the FLC says something about it and handles the situation as the matter has already been handed over to the FLC. There are two rising questions from this;

How would the FLC sit on a matter that has not been formally tabled to them (despite him claiming it was?)
Why were the Chief Whip and the other representatives of the FLC mute?

The press indeed waited for the FLC to say and do something about the matter. They at least waited till the next FLC meeting in which the “suspended” Alawiye Israel was billed to present his Super 4 and Inter Level competition budget. The reporter, present there, was shocked that the only thing that prevented Alawiye Israel, alias Prime, from presenting his budget was the nonsensical format of his budget, which of course was below the standards of the FLC and therefore could not be accepted. Also, it must be noted that the budget he presented to the house was not on the association’s letterhead and does not have the signature of the President appended.

There was no mention whatsoever throughout the 2-hour sitting of the FLC of the suspension, neither of Prime nor of the letter from the Executive stating they have suspended Prime and handed the matter over to the house. WHY?

There was a shock, further shock, and then complete and utter confusion which was of course accompanied by another further shock. One would be forgiven if one thought the reporter was a shock absorber with all the shock being absorbed at the moment. Of course, to clear the shock and confusion, questions had to be asked. This is where it gets interesting or should it be said more interesting. This part will be told by citing two principal members of the faculty legislative council.

The Clerk

For those who do not know, the clerk of the FLC is the one in charge of receiving letters and discharging letters of the FLC. For instance, if AFAS PRESS wants to send a letter to the faculty legislative council, it has to send the letter through the Clerk of the house. Now here is the twist; when a correspondent of AFAS Press reached out to the Clerk if any letter stating Prime’s suspension by the Executive and the matter being handed over to the FLC was forwarded to the house, the clerk answered in the negative “No, I have not received any”, said the Clerk. Further shock and then complete and utter confusion. Which again begs the question: Why were the CHIEF WHIP and the other representative of the FLC present at the meeting MUTE?

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker is the second in command to the speaker of the house. If anything happens to the speaker of the house, he/she/they automatically become the Speaker. When the deputy speaker was reached out to on why nothing was said about Prime’s suspension in the FLC. She answered “The suspension was revoked by the Executive before the sitting”. About any letter being forwarded to the FLC, she, of course, directed the correspondent to the clerk who had confirmed that no letter was sent to the FLC. She and also the speaker (whom the reporter was opportune to see at the moment) confirmed that they only knew about the matter on an “unofficial basis”. Again, why were the CHIEF WHIP and the other representative of the FLC present at the meeting MUTE? Conflict of interest perhaps? It cannot be determined. Why also did the President make it appear as though the executive had formally appealed to the house to look into the case?
Now, to the President, Akinyoola Emmanuel aka AKOEM, in a conversation which this reporter did not deny revoking the suspension, but of course still pleaded with the press not to publish anything yet until the FLC sits on the matter (sidebar: he also stated he told the press this information off the record which of course is not the case). Now, two questions:
How can the FLC sit on a suspension that has already been “REVOKED?”
If it had not been revoked, how can the FLC sit on a matter not formally tabled to them?

Shock, further shock, and then complete and utter confusion.

Before AFASITES’ very own eyes, another scandal similar to the WATERGATE scandal (although on a much smaller scale) is happening in the faculty. The notable difference now is the source of this information is not hidden as seen in the Watergate scandal. It is the President.
There are many other begging questions. Why the secrecy? Were they waiting for Prime to beg on his knees to be accepted back? Were they waiting for their principal’s ego to be soothed after being bruised? Was this all a plan to cut Prime’s wing, reduce his pride and ego, and force him to work in accordance with Team Altruism? Was it revoked because of his pleadings and apologies or the influence of political “stalwarts” and “stakeholders” in the faculty? Only time can, and will answer these questions.

As this article reaches its conclusion, a question must be asked again, a question that can be answered by people, why were the CHIEF WHIP and the other representative of the FLC present at the meeting MUTE when Akinyoola Emmanuel aka AKOEM said a letter had already been submitted to the FLC?