All Anticipation Now Met With News of an Impeachment

Lawal Maruf

Since the last semester, the Sports office of the Association of Faculty of Arts has witnessed a series of turbulent storms – ranging from the previous suspension of the Sports Director to his eventual reinstatement – which have all led to sporting events in the faculty being placed on hold, while some proposed novel tournament may never see the light of day.

There is the saying that “where two elephant fight, the grass suffers”. Due to the previous suspension of the Sports director, the budget for the Super Four and Inter-Level competition have not even been allowed to be brought forward for consideration before the FLC, not to even talk of its approval. These unfolding events have placed sporting events in the Faculty in an erratic state. This has eventually translated in AFASites being denied the opportunity of satisfying their longing expectation, relaxing their anticipation muscles. AFASite have only been made to salivate about the much anticipated tournaments.

The Sports director was initially suspended on account of his sudden absence from the association’s social media platform. Subsequently, he was reinstated and was allowed to carry on with his constitutional duties, given the conditions of him writing an apology letter. However, a looming question is, was the Sports director re-incorporated into the system and reconciled with other members, or he was left to be a “one-man-mopol”?

It is evident from the look of things that there is a weak team spirit amongst the present executive, or at least to the sports director. From indications, it would seem that the sports office is being provided with a low number of assistance to achieve the common goal, or it could probably be that the sports director is the one who prefers to keep to himself and not seek for assistance from his fellow executive members. Whatever the case is, it remains to be seen.

Unaccountability and Negligence of constitutional duties of the Sports Director

In the previous plenary session, the major issue that was spotlighted was the negligence of constitutional duties and unaccountability of the Sports director, which subsequently led to his impeachment.
There is a Yoruba adage that goes thus; “one struggles to save the chick from certain death, and it complains that one is preventing it from foraging at the dump”. This adage finds its suitability in the current predicament of the impeached Sports director. One would expect the Sports director to do away with any issue, which would lead to washing his “dirty linen” in the public, following his previous suspension; however, the reverse was the case.

In the presentation of the joint committee of the audit and finance committee in a committee of the whole presided by the Deputy Speaker, by Hon. Collins of the Archaeology/Anthropology constituency which was meant to scrutinize the expenses of various offices, only the office of the Sports director could not be accounted for, as he was unable to present the paperwork on the purchased items for Sports event Day of the freshers’ orientation week.

According to the honourable, “On two occasions, the Sports director has failed to present the expenditure of his office without showing a cogent reason to the house”.

In defence of the allegations, the Sports director said that he had shown the items bought to the representative of the investigative committee, Deputy Clerk, Hon. Daniel. However, he couldn’t produce the receipt before the whole committee. The reason was that the receipt was nowhere to be found because he changed his residence, and thus, not a single written document could be produced to corroborate his position.

As a result of this, the house swung into action to prevent it from being labeled as a “toothless bulldog”. They could no longer accord him a tinge of leniency. His unaccountability coupled with his negligence in being able to guard the properties of the association in his care seemed beyond overlooking. Hence, they suggested his impeachment, which was later accentuated by a majority vote in support of it in a secret voting process.
It could also be recalled that the Sports director had earlier signed a letter of undertaking before he was reinstated, in which it stipulated that any of his inactivity or misdoings should be considered without mercy or prior warning.

Looking Towards the President for Sporting Directions

In light of this, the office of the Sports director is now under the watchful eyes of the AFAS President as stipulated by the AFAS constitution, Article 38, section 5, between now and when the bye-election is conducted. Hence, AFASites now have to look towards the office of the President on what next, as regards sports matters in the faculty.

Yesterday, Monday March 27th 2023, the FLC sent a notification of sitting across all AFAS whatsapp groups and part of the agenda is the budget for the Super 4 tournament. This will suggest that perhaps, the inter-level competition, an initiative of the erstwhile sports director cannot be continued, but there are some positive actions towards organizing the traditional Super 4 competitions.