The suspended President of the National Association of Students of English and Literary Studies (NASELS) OAU, Sodiq Oyeleke a.k.a SDK has said the reason for his suspension is basically because of his attempt to probe unaccounted funds and refusal to pay hidden N20k to the legislative arm of the association.
In a Statement made available to OAU Peeps News Agency, SDK revealed that the non-payment of annual due by NSRC members which he acknowledged publicly, non-payment of mandatory N20,000 to NSRC, suspension of PRO, attempt to probe unaccounted funds and NCB annual due are the reasons considered to suspend him as against the constitutional aberration the parliament said.
According to the Sodiq, members of the NSRC got disgruntled with him because after their inauguration, he came out bold to say they do not deserve to be recognized because majority of them have not paid their annual due. As at when he said that (seventh week after resumption), the Speaker, Deputy Speaker and 10 other members out of 20 of them were allegedly among those that have not paid
Speaking on other issues surrounding his suspension, SDK wrote:
“The issue of the N20, 000 mandatory payment to NSRC is the most painful issue to them. Three working days after which they were sworn-in, the leadership of the NSRC mandated the Executive Council to pay a sum of N20,000 to them. They said it is for the running of the association. The Executive Council deliberated on it and decided that such money be paid if there is a constitutional backing for it and Naselsites should be told what the money is meant for. We insisted that no money leaves our account for unknown reasons. But they insisted that we can't know. We said if it is for correspondences, the computer system, printer and photocopier at the secretariat is functional. They (NSRC) claimed that there was an Act mandating the payment but such Act was never made available to the Executive Council. When asked if the act went through the proper processes, they said 'an act of parliament doesn't need to be assented to by anybody, be it congress or Executive Council.' After this, the NSRC said the Executive Council was irrational and de-facto, argued that no section of the constitution stated that the Executive Council should be also be given money and that if they are in Osun State House of Assembly, they will be entitled to 'sitting allowance which N20,000 is not enough to carter for'. And it is one of the grounds for our suspension.
“Attempt To Probe Unaccounted Funds
When we got to office, we realised that NSRC only collect money without giving account for how the money was spent. The last administration collected N10,000 from the O' Busayo's administration and has not accounted for it up to this moment. We therefore made moves to write a petition to the Audit Committee to audit the NSRC, NCB and electoral commissions. They said we do not have the right to write seeking for such probe ie it is unconstitutional. Currently, over N50,000 belonging to the association remained unaccounted for. As I speak, no letter has been submitted to the Audit Committee but it constituted a reason for our suspension, even when action hasn't been taken.
“PRO's Suspension And Issues Surrounding
Even if there are inconsistency on our part for this, the issue was discussed in a congress, according to the notification letter given to the PRO. But the NSRC sacked the decision of the congress and went further to discuss it. For avoidance of doubt, the former President and Judicial Committee Chair were the two that spoke on it as a separate issue in the congress. They said after their action, congress can do what they like.
“NCB annual due
When we resumed office, the executives had a meeting with NCB and the NCB executives complained that the fund given to them is not enough to run the bureau, shortage of manpower and delay in payment. As a way forward, the Executive Council opined that poor and late payment of dues must be responsible for the delayed remittance of money to the NCB. It was agreed that N5, 000 would be paid in the first week of resumption and another N5, 000 in the sixth week for both semesters to tackle that. Also, it was agreed that members of the NCB will be persuaded to pay early so that at least that can be remitted back to the Bureau. The executive council told NCB that we do not have the power to increase their annual due but suggested that NCB should bring a budget, which is to be attached with the Executive budget to the NSRC for approval. Regardless of that, we agreed that the conventional N20,000 will be paid (which we have already paid N10,000), but increment would come through NSRC. All these took place in the absence of the NSRC. When NSRC came to existence, without requesting for the state of association nor getting complain from both parties involved, they said it is unconstitutional for us to ask them to submit a budget. That we are just meant to pay them and nothing more. We don't have a reason to know why we are paying.
“My Stand
I, Sodiq Oyeleke, will not sign out any money for unknown reasons. It is public fund and not mine and I stand to account for it publicly. I will prefer to resign or be impeached than be mandated to pay money ( a whole N20,000) for an unknown reason. I wish to state clearly for the avoidance of doubt that NASELS currently has over N630,000 in its account but I won't be a party to signing any money that NASELSITES can't be told what it is to be used for. I will never compromise for any reason. No matter what they tag it.”
