AFAS Congress ends in a deadlock, another set to hold on Monday

Lawal Maruf

Association of faculty arts’ congress which was held on Monday,15 May, 2023 ended in a deadlock due to the failure of the Afas executives in sending notification of Congress to the Faculty legislative council.

The congress which was held at the SRC chamber was expected to address the issues of “supposed reviewed Afas constitution” and petitions from Afasites. However, it was later referred to as a “town hall meeting” as raised by one of the congress men because the FLC was not notified about the congress. According to the congressman, it implies that any decision made cannot hold water and will be unconstitutional as this violated the Article 14 (I) of the Afas constitution “The executive acting through the President shall have the power to call for a Congress in consultation with the FLC in a written form through the Speaker at least a week before such congress”.

In spite of the above, Afasites aired their opinions about the “newly amended constitution” and totally rejected it because it doesn’t represent the interests of Afasites. It was also alleged that some principal stakeholders were not allowed in during the constitution review.

Also, the acting president, Olorunfemi Olajumoke expressed her disapproval on the newly amended constitution because president has not given assent to it.

On the issue of the Dean’s cup participation fee, Afasites agreed unequivocally that no team is going to pay any certain amount for participation and that the competition must hold. Also, they questioned the point of payment of basic dues if they have to pay to participate in the Dean’s cup.

The president of the department of Classics, Olunuga Damilola, speaking on the FLC Legislative summit, suggested that each member of the FLC should contribute ₦1,000 and seek a financial support from the executive to fund the legislative summit instead of taking the money from the association’s budget.

On why a notification of the congress wasn’t sent to the FLC, the acting president, Olorunfemi Olajumoke, stated that three letters had earlier been rejected by the house and the house may not acknowledge the notification. hence the decision not to carry the house along.
According to the AFAS General Secretary, Abdulrazaq Hassan, He asserted that notification of the congress was only sent to the staff advisers with the exception of the FLC.

However, Afasites present at the “town hall meeting” urged the executives to send a notification of Congress to the FLC that day so that another congress can be held the following Monday.