From: Gabriel Dike
The Congress of Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) University of Lagos branch has endorsed the removal of three principal officials over alleged abuse of office and disregard to the union’s constitution.
Three principal officers were sacked from office when the report of the eight-man panel set up by congress to investigate various allegations against the branch chairman, secretary and treasurer of the union was approved.
Before their sack, the entire executive of the SSANU UNILAG were placed on indefinite suspension by the congress in August and in place an acting chairman was appointed to steer the affairs of the branch for three months.
At the congress held on November 7, the chairman of the panel, Mr. Tunde Ade-Olunusi, presented the report and after deliberations, it was unanimously approved thus, the branch chairman, secretary and treasurer were impeached.
The report dated October 10 and signed by the eight members was also copied the Vice Chancellor, Registrar, Principal, International School, SSANU zonal Vice President, South West, acting chairman and vice chairman, SSANU UNILAG.
The sacked chairman, secretary and treasurer were found wanting of abuse of office including operating secret accounts and the panel recommended for audit panel to look into the finances of the union.
The report stated that the three principal officers were given the option to resign or be impeached by the congress, an option they failed to accept.
With the presentation of the panel’s report and removal of three officers, the other suspended exco were reinstated and the vice chairman was appointed to take over as acting chairman.
The Ade-Olunusi-led panel recommended the union to refer the case to financial crime agencies for further interrogation and prosecution.
In his address at the congress, the acting chairman, Mr. Jacob Adeniyi, recalled how on August 23 during a stormy congress, he emerged as acting chairman to steer the affairs of the union for three months and thanked members for supporting him to accomplish the feat in less than the mandated period.
His words: ‘’How could we in a short time overcome the gargantuan multifarious issues confronted by the branch whose leadership had been noted for ineptitude, breach of the union constitution and madly engulfed in autocratic tendency, maladministration, corruption, exclusion and encouraged ratio2:5 leadership style, where two was greater than five.’’
According to him, the branch suffered dearth of quality leadership in the recent past and lost of confidence in our system at the union level stating that the present situation has presented itself to be another turning point to bring up good and patriotic leaders to continue the recovery process.