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| Mr John Sunday |
In an exclusive interview with OAU Peeps News Agency, the executive council of the Nigerian Universities Accounting Students Association headed by the President of the association; Mr Sunday John Akpan, has come out to clear the air on the alleged crisis that has rocked the association over the past few days.
The President, who was said to have been impeached on Friday, the 13th January 2017 on the basis of a five thousand naira (N5,000) fraud, stated that his said impeachment held no water as no motion was moved in the house to its effect, neither was it backed by a two-third majority of the house as stated by the constitution. He further clarified that the impeachment was a carryover of emotions that emanated from the last elections of the association. In his words, he claimed; “…I was allegedly impeached by the speaker single-handedly, we have a constitution and the constitution states clearly how members of the executive can be relieved of their responsibility as far as the association is concerned but the constitution was not followed and the speaker singlehandedly; without allowing a motion to be moved at the level of the house and a two-third majority and as a matter of fact, it is not an impeachment per say…”.
Also commenting on the circumstances that called for the said impeachment, the Chairman of the Investigation Committee, Hon. Ajilore Ayodeji, stated that contrary to what most headlines stated, the President was not guilty of fraud but of misappropriation. According to the Chairman, who was also a member of the Accounting Students Representative Council, the said N5,000 was an excess from the trip to the OAU Zoo organized in the Freshers week programme of the association which held between the 22nd -27th of August 2016. He further stated the mistake of the President was that rather than reporting the excess back to the House which approved the expense, the President used the funds in the execution of a capital project, which was the installation of a White Marker Board at the recently constructed ICAN Lecture Theatre. Hon. Ajilore affirmed that the executive had to even deep hands into their personal pockets to bulk the funds as the construction of the board cost more than the said N5,000 excess. The Honourable then stated that as the President’s breach of due process was not justifiable, his committee had recommended a more suitable punishment in its report, one not in tandem with the actions of the Speaker.
The General Secretary of the Association, Mr Oladejo Ismail, whilst commenting on the issue opined that the issues arising were merely unnecessary expressions of post-election emotions. According to the Secretary, the issue had been duly addressed since its occurrence in the first semester as the President had been made to apologise to the house at its in-house meeting and Staff Advisers of the Association had already interfered in the matter. Mr Oladejo further alleged that the said impeachment was only an attempt by persons in antagonist parties to cog the wheel of progress of the association. He then further appealed to the members of NUASA to continue to participate in the planned programmes of the association as the current issues in the association were only a distraction.
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