The Students Union secretariat of the Adekunle Ajasin Univeristy, Akungba- Akoko (AAUA) in Ondo State has been shut following the impeachment of the president, Adegbola Oduyemi, and the treasurer, Oluwaseun Olanrewaju, for alleged financial impropriety.
Adegbola is the first SUG president to be impeached in the union’s history. Folusho Ayeni has been sworn in as the acting president, making history as the first woman to lead the union.
At an emergency sitting to consider the report of a panel set up to investigate allegations of funds misappropriation against the executive arm, members of the Students’ Representative Council (SRC) resolved that Adegbola and Oluwaseun should go.
The SRC instituted the Kayode Fagoroye-led panel last November to investigate Adegbola, Oluwaseun and the Financial Secretary, Segun Bello, for alleged irregularities in the disbursement of union funds.
It was gathered that the panel indicted the president and the treasurer, but cleared Bello.
The panel found that Adegbola wrote a letter to the management without the SRC’s consent to demand 150 per cent increment in the union’s due. He was also alleged to have deceived the management that the students agreed to use Capital Insurance Nigeria Limited to provide life cover for them.
The panel indicated Oluwaseun for changing the union’s account mandate from three to two signatories. She was also accused of impersonation, embezzlement and truancy.
Senate President Olakunle Balogun and the Clerk, Christopher Arowolo, advised Adegbola and Oluwaseun to hand over the union’s properties in their custody to the acting president. The SRC said it would send the panel’s report to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
In her reaction, Oluwaseun said members of the SRC conspired against her, vowing not to step down.
She said: “I remain the union’s treasurer. There was no formal sitting of the SRC. Members of the House only had a meeting where some of them informally discussed issues. This is nothing, but a conspiracy against me. Since I assume office, I have never joined issues with anyone and I don’t know why anyone would be keen on dragging my name in the mud.
“I have served the union with transparency and honesty. All my disbursements are well-documented and they were done for the progress of the union. To show that their report was baseless and built on falsehood, myself and the president were indicted, while the third signatory to the union’s account was exonerated. When the issue of the disbursement of funds for the repair of the union’s vehicles that led to the probe was discussed, the financial secretary was aware.”
Oluwaseun urged the students to disregard the impeachment and the panel report “so as not to begin to have negative thoughts about people working tirelessly for their welfare”.
Adegbola said he was not aware of any impeachment, insisting that there was no formal sitting of the SRC.
He said: “The SRC leadership is deceiving itself. Only members of the house can suspend or impeach me and not the Senate President’s WhatsApp’s verdict. There can be no sitting without members of the Ethics and Privilege Committee meeting first. I am not aware of any impeachment. And nobody set up any committee to try me. The treasurer and the financial secretary were tried by a committee. I was never invited by anybody whatsoever to any committee. Some of the SRC members have called me to dissociate themselves from the kangaroo impeachment.”
To prevent a breakdown of law and order, management shut the union’s secretariat and suspended its activities.
The Deputy Registrar, Olaoluwa Akinfemiwa, in a memo signed on behalf of the Dean of Students’ Affairs, Dr Bolanle Ogungbamila, said management would not watch the crisis degenerate into a break down of law and order.
The memo reads: “Following the outcome of the investigation panel and arbitration, the Dean hereby directs that the students union secretariat be shut and the use of the two union buses be put on hold. The keys must be handed over to the school’s Acting Security Officer. The officials of the executive, SRC and the judicial council should cease to parade themselves as officials of the union.”
Kayode said the panel’s report followed “thorough investigation”, adding that he refused to be intimidated the induced by the impeached members.
He said: “Our report is available for anyone who wants to check. The report is a product of a thorough investigation. It was based on truth and we were fair to the parties involved. A lot of things were done to kill this report. I was offered bribe to conceal the truth in the report, which I rejected. They also sent some assailants after me.”
Kayode accused Adegbola of conniving with some SRC members to boycott sittings.
According to Section 26(1) of the union’s Constitution, the SRC shall form a quorum when one-third of members are in attendance. But, Adegbola alleged that SRC did not form a quorum when it sat on the report. CAMPUSLIFE gathered that some members threatened not to attend sittings beacuse of what they called the “predetermined agenda” of the SRC leadership.
Kayode denied that the investigation’s outcome was predetermined. “Our report was ready one week after the panel was constituted. There were efforts to delay the presentation of the report by the executive. Out of the three persons accused, two were found guilty and one was vindicated. Majority of the transactions carried out since the inception of the administration were done by the president and the treasurer. The sum of N534,470 was illegally withdrawn from the union account.”
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