By ‘Wale Olaogun, NUESA PRESS
The Genesis
After the plenary session on Saturday, 12 September at A204/205 room in the Faculty of Education, this reporter heard some crucial issues going on in the Faculty. First, on the newly inaugurated Education Students Electoral Commission (ESEC). It was made known to the reporter that the office of the Speaker, through a letter, asked each department to nominate a student to be member of the ESEC. The letter contained that the NUESA FLC Speaker, Rt. Hon. Bolaji Ayinde stated the level(s) in which the nominees should come from, as well as the gender they must be. Meanwhile, in accordance with the constitution, each department is meant to select or nominate student(s) of their choice as members of the electoral commission.
Chronicles:
On the Commissioning of ESEC: Departmental Presidents Testify To The Above Claim
Having heard the above information and having consulted the constitution on the composition of ESEC, here is the outcome. It is stipulated in Article 9, section 2(a) that the commission (ESEC) shall compromise of 11 members, 9 of which shall be due nominees who must have been approved by at least 2/3 of the members of the Departmental association. This reporter started a investigation on this issue by placing interviewing some departmental presidents.
When asked if the commissioning of the ESEC was fair and constitutional, the President of Arts and Social Sciences Department, Miss Rebecca Amoko, firmly stated that the process was not free as the Speaker was dictating to the Department who and who not to bring. She said as far as she is concerned; the decision was bias and unconstitutional.
Answering this same question, Mr. Talabi Samuel, the President of the Department of Educational Management reiterated that the House is not constitutionally right because they did not practice “fairness” as regards the issue. He stressed further that the FLC has no right to decide who the Department sends to represent them at ESEC. The EME President believes that the act was a political game.
Mr. Ibrahim, the President, Guidance and Counselling Department, also said that the process was unfair and unconstitutional, and that the House was hiding under the guise of gender balance and equity. The President strongly stated that as far as he is concerned, he didn’t concur to any prank being played outside the constitution of NUESA.
According to Mr. Khalid, the President of the Department of Adult Education, told this reporter that the Speaker requested for a female student from 300 level which he presented to the House.
The Faculty Judicial Council’s (FJC) Intervention
With respect to the letters issued by the office of the Speaker to the departmental Presidents, the FJC interfered. Speaking with the Chief Judge, Justice Samuel Favour, he said he was called by an aggrieved President of a notable department who saw the FLC’s letter as a compulsion on the department on who to be members of the ESEC. In the light of this, he said that he also looked into the issue by reaching out to each departmental president to confirm whether the veracity of the claim.
The Chief Judge later confirmed the claim was true as pieces of evidence were presented by the presidents of each department and this led to the FJC’s intervention. “As a law interpreter, I wrote a letter to the office of the Speaker, through the Clerk to correct the act as it was unconstitutional, and that each department can present who they want as members of the ESEC at the discretion of each department,” he said.
The CJ further stated that although he did not receive any response from the House, he sensitized each president to send students of their choices to the House, and see if they would be inaugurated or not. Having seen the letter, the Speaker inaugurated the ESEC because of the FJC’s intervention.
Honourable Members Do Not Possess One Voice
In the course of the investigation, this reporter interviewed some Honourable members were interrogated.
An honourable member from Adult Education constituency, who firstly denied that any letter of such was written to each department, later admitted and said it was all for gender equality. Another honourable, Hon. Tanko Firdaus, the Majority Leader, Adult Education constituency affirmatively confirmed that the Speaker advised the Departments for equal and fair representation.
This reporter spoke with the Clerk of the House, Hon. Akinkunmi, who also said the whole story is untrue and there is no letter stating such.
Speaker Debunks News, States That It Is a Rumour
This reporter further spoke with the Speaker to know how true the claim was. In an interview with the Speaker, he was inquisitive to know the source of the information before answering the questions. However, the speaker later discredited the news, saying the Press should treat as a rumour as there is no letter stating that he instructed any Department on who to nominate, with respect to level and gender, as ESEC members.
FJC’s Plight
In an interview conducted for the Chief Judge by NUESA Press on why the FJC has not been functioning in second semester, the Chief Judge stated that the only thing hindering the operation of the Council is funds. He lamented that the FJC has sent its budget to the office of the Speaker, through the Clerk for scrutiny, yet the FJC has not been fed back with updates on the new development.
With respect to this response, the Speaker, in his interview with NUESA Press stated that he does not know why the Judicial arm has been malfunctional, more so, he is not a member of the FJC. Meanwhile, Chief Judge had told this reporter that he said the Speaker told him that he had sent the council’s budget to the ABC Chairman for proper scrutiny.
Revelation:
The Paradox in the Speaker’s and ABC Chairman’s Response to the FJC’s Plight
Immediately after the publication of the interview granted by the Chief Judge, the Speaker was caught in a chat boldly saying that the Chief Judge needed to apologize to the House, and thereafter retracts the letter he sent to address the ESEC issue, or else they seek funds from external bodies.
After the interview published by NUESA Press on why the FJC has not been functioning this semester, the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Bolaji Ayinde initially responded that he did not know the veracity of the Chief Judge’s accusation. When further interviewed, he later stated that the House has received the budget, which has been forwarded to the relevant committee.
However, the relevant committee, which was believed to be the ABC (Audit and Budget Committee), was reached out to. The Chairman, Hon. Usman Paul, claimed that as far as his office is concerned, any budget has not been received. He said the Speaker only sent him a document and he told him that there are issues around it, therefore, delaying its process. He chorused that he has not received any budget for the FJC. While concluding, he said the Speaker is the one responsible for the FJC’s budget, and only him could be questioned.
The reporter, after the phone call with the ABC Chairman, had to contact the Speaker again, for clarity since the duo were not speaking with one voice. This time, the Speaker who had said that he had sent the budget to the appropriate committee, lately claimed that there are issues around the budget, and one of the issues was that the Chief Judge (CJ) was the one spreading rumour on the commissioning of the ESEC. He further argued that the CJ claims that the House does not need to approve Judiciary’s budget before disbursement which negates the constitution. When asked if there are evidence, the Speaker replied that there are, but he would keep them confidential. Hence, the Judicial Council publicly prove the allegation levied on the House.
Speaker Acts Outside the Constitution
However, the NUESA constitution proved the Speaker wrong, giving credit to the Chief Judge as stated in Article 7; Section 8(c), that the Judicial commission “shall determine the budget of the Judicial Council which will be sent to the CEC for approval”.
This, however, verifies that the Speaker is either ignorant of the constitution or perhaps, deliberately working against the constitution, which is supreme, and above every educators.
