The outgoing President of the Students' Union of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ibikunle Isaac Motunrayo has come out to debunk the allegation of embezzlement leveled against him and his administration by the outgoing Chairman of the Halls Committee, Hon. Akintimehin Andrew.
Ibikunle in a rejoinder made available to us described the allegation as laughable, distracting and an attempt to blackmail him. He however advised Ondo state indigenes to be wary of Hon. Akin whom he accused of financial and political decadence.
"Evidence they say doesn’t lie! Let Ondo State students beware of this man who does brag of becoming Ondo State Governor in future. A man with this financial and political decadence and frustrated outburst leading a great state like Ondo! I laughed!"
Below is the full statement
ON ‘HON’ AKIN’S ALLEGATIONS, WE CAN’T STOP LAUGHING!
Many of us couldn’t stop laughing when we saw the distracting release of calumny written by one frustrated ‘Honourable’ Akin, who only reminded us of a resemblance of ‘Honourable’ Farouq Lawal of our National Assembly. Akin has said he would blackmail us before, hence, we were not surprised! Dear friends, after engaging in campus politics for the good five years plus, I have decided to dedicate the remaining less-than-one month strictly to my academics; at the moment, am writing my final papers, battling with my project and some assignments as such I no longer pay attention to such distraction and wouldn’t have bothered responding but for the insistence of many of my loved ones and supporters within OAU, across the country and in diaspora.
Meanwhile, I would not stoop so low to address trivialities as he did, rather, I would only address issues by laying the following VERIFIABLE facts before everyone:
That the Union received its dues from the management on three instalments, the last being N2.1 million. On the ground of its quest to ensure proper financial monitoring, probity, transparency and accountability on the part of our administration (as against the dubious and unaccountable spending manners notorious with some past union leadership), the management, through the office of the Vice Chancellor, in its letter dated 24th, October, 2014, directed that the Union fund be released in three instalments.
That to be eligible to collect the second, third instalments and financial clearance after the last instalment, the Union, MUST through the office of its Financial Secretary submit a detailed statement of expenditure of previous instalment backed up by necessary payment/receipt evidences to the Dean, Division of Students Affairs and University Audit Unit. The former is to vet them, raised necessary queries/observations while the latter is to audit the documents, carry out needed investigations and also come down to inspect all items we said to have spent on and advised the DSA accordingly ; it is only when we have satisfyingly cleared through these steps , that the DSA would now write a clearance memo attached to the audited documents recommending the release of next instalment; and the Office of the Vice-Chancellor, will also do its own vetting before the Bursar’s Office will be instructed to pay the Union banker.
That it is this rigorous processes that we happily submitted ourselves to before the release of every instalment since we do not have anything to run from. Note that we are also obliged to subject the last expenditures on the third instalment to the same transparency and accountability process.
That apart from willingly undergoing the foregoing professional auditing and financial monitoring processes despite that our Union constitution never mandated us to undergo such scrutiny, our financial activities were further audited by the Budget & Finance Committee (B&F), a body saddled by the Union Constitution with the powers to carry out auditing of Union officers and committees. Questions that were raised by the B&F were debated at the Parliament where we were confronted with the questions for our clarifications, after which all of us, the Central Executive Council were cleared by the Parliament which had, in attendance, our staunch critics.
That while we underwent all these processes, Hon Akin WAS NEVER audited by the B&F, the Parliament or the relevant University units. AS A MATTER OF FACT, he has been evading being audited; He had also been absconding from the Judicial Council, before which the Parliament, as at the date of dissolving itself, instructed the yet-to-be-audited-hall Excos to appear for proper auditing and investigation.
That when we received the third instalment, we met with the leadership of the parliament, of the judicial council and of the B&F and it was resolved that all debts and out-standings be paid; documents and evidences of expenses be afterwards submitted to necessary varsity authorities for the purpose of auditing and accountability while the remaining balance be handed over to the next administration. On subvention, it was resolved that halls should not be paid except those who have been audited or who can justify their earlier spending. This we followed as evidenced in paragraphs below.
That the grouse Akin has with us IS SIMPLY our insistence on not giving him, in particular, any subvention on the plain reason that he should first subject himself to proper auditing to convince everyone that he didn’t mismanage/embezzle the about N500, 000 hall dues, more than N60, 000 share of his earlier subvention, unspecified amount of money gotten from donors, etc. But is this much to ask for the sake of accountability on behalf of Great Ife students? IT SHOULD BE NOTED that Akin did not make use of the Hall bank account, rather his own PERSONAL account, in running the finances of the hall- a flagrant violation of the Union Constitution. As such, he neither had a statement of account to present either original of forged, nor did he have a statement of income and expenditure or any documentary evidences of payment and receipts to show. The more reason he is running away from audit!
That unlike Akin’s lie, some hall Excos such as Angola, ETF and Alumni who approached us for fund for their hall week (after the collection of the third instalment) were given between N30, 000 and N40, 000 each after they had been able to justify and defend their earlier income. Even there was a hall executive who with the undertaking by their hall management was advanced a loan. Does this not establish the fact that Hon Akin was just speaking for himself and not all the hall Executives as he claimed?
That we will not want to mention the fact that Akin has been a dubious character from the inception of this administration as he sold several bed-spaces in medical floor of his Hall for hundreds of thousand, spaces he was given free of charge- a case that is punishable by rustication according to the varsity regulations, but for his tears-ridden begging and undertaking not to repeat such disgraceful act when the case was moderated by the Union. Other atrocities also abound. These are facts known to several Fajuyians and other students!
That for us, it is on record that we were audited by the constituted authorities of the Union and of the University but ‘Hon’ Akin WAS NEVER audited by any of these bodies- please approach the ex-secretary of B&F, the ex-acting Clerk of the Parliament, the DSA or Varsity Audit Unit to verify through the records. Evidence they say doesn’t lie! Let Ondo State students beware of this man who does brag of becoming Ondo State Governor in future. A man with this financial and political decadence and frustrated outburst leading a great state like Ondo! I laughed!
On a final note, my appreciation goes to you all for all your support, prayers and constructive criticisms. Law school on my mind, peeps! And no amount of political scheming and plotting, physical or spiritual, can stop this Insha Allah Insha Jesus; for they failed in stopping me from becoming Chairperson of Angola Hall, from succeeding as the Chairperson, from becoming a member of parliament, from winning different national and international competitions for the University, from becoming Union President and successfully completing my tenure- an unusual feat in OAU history! To the distractors, my time will pass, your time will pass, but WHAT TANGIBLE CONTRIBUTION to Great Ife students and community will history remember you for? I so submit!
IBIKUNLE ISAAC M.
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