By Joseph Niyi
The former president and financial secretary of the Faculty of Arts and Humanity Students’ Association, Naankel Francis and Victor Okpe have been accused of embezzling a total of approximately N1.9 million from the funds belonging to the association, during their tenure in the 2019/2020 academic session.
How it began
The scandal began in March 2023, following the Senate’s discovery of irregularities in the association’s financial records and accounts.
To this effect, the legislative arm of the association—which is saddled with the power and responsibility of checking and balancing the association’s fiscal and political processes—began spearheading investigations and inquiries into the issue.
Consequently, the results unearthed proved that the aforementioned amount had been discreetly and illegally withdrawn from the association’s account—without the approval of the Senate—by the President and Financial Secretary of the association.
Inquiries and investigations
A bank statement was requested by the Senate from the association’s banking services providers (Fidelity Bank, Naraguta Campus branch). However, the bank statement was delivered to the Senate unsealed, with some pages reported missing. This raised questioning eyebrows within the Senate and the association as a whole, as such an official document was meant to be sealed and thorough.
Hence, a new round of inquiries began, and another statement was ordered by the upper chamber. In response to the request, the Fidelity Bank officials assured the legislature that the incident was not perpetuated by the bank, but by some other external forces with malicious intentions. As a show of goodwill, a second sealed, thorough statement was, therefore, presented by the bank to the Senate; its content affirmed the illegal transactions suspected to have been carried out by top executives of the association.
The Senate hearing
Following this development, a preliminary hearing was called by the Senate and all suspects were called to take the stand.
The hearing was presided over by the Senate President of the association’s 6th assembly, RT. Hon. Gibsong Wash on 31 March and all the financial documents relating to the association’s account were presented as evidence.
Appearing before the Senate, the president, financial secretary, and treasurer—all of whom were directly accountable for the financial dealings carried out by the association during their tenure—initially could not account for the missing funds. However, upon further probing, the financial secretary and the president eventually confessed to giving themselves loans from the association’s account without the consent and approval of the Senate.
It was, thereafter, revealed that in 2020, during the COVID-19 lockdown, multiple transactions of deposits and withdrawals were carried out in the account by Francis and Okpe without the approval of the Senate, which is a total abuse of power. With these funds, a photocopy machine, a public address system, and a signpost for the Faculty were obtained by the former president, without the approval of the Senate.
Eventually, while the hearing was still in progress, both Francis and Ayuba Dokyil, former Secretary General of the association stormed out of the gathering before a conclusion was made.
The ruling
At the end of the hearing, the Senate unanimously suspended the former president and his financial secretary from active duty as executives of the association. For walking out on the Senate during the preliminary hearing, the then Secretary General was also suspended from active service.
This sentence was done per section 10, sub-sections 6, 7, and 8 of the association’s constitution, which gives parliamentarians the power to suspend any erring member of the association from Congress and active service as an executive.
However, the Upper Chambers of the association also promised pardon to the guilty parties—Francis and Okpe—on the condition that a written document to account for all the corrupt transactions be submitted to the house. Nonetheless, to date, no such document has been submitted.
Meanwhile, the ex-treasurer of the association, Marylyn Dabagal was confirmed innocent, seeing that she had no hand in the events that had led to the hearing.
Comments on the scandal
Decrying this menace, the current speaker of the association- RT. Hon Waziri Augustine Peterson of the 7th Assembly stated that people seated in office need to constantly remember that they are elected to serve.
“In every institution, there are laws that prohibit such acts, but if these laws are not mandatory, stopping offenders will be difficult. If people elected into power can respect the people they serve, as well as the public funds under their control, a standard can then be set for the administration that will come after,” he said.
The way forward
The Senate has assured all members of the association that another hearing will be conducted to conclusively address the scandal and subsequently put an end to it. They have promised to do whatever is legally necessary to bring justice and accountability to the association, as well as recover the stolen funds from the guilty parties.
Unfortunately, some of the damages done cannot be undone. An example of these are: the to host the FASA week, no welcome special for the now 200-level students, and no souvenirs for any student under the Faculty of Arts
Peterson has also confirmed that steps are being taken to prevent the recurrence of such malicious practices in the future.
“The president, Aaron Kolo, myself, and every other parliamentarian in the Faculty of Arts, in this present administration, are working hard to ensure that no expenditure is done in secrecy—as was the norm in the past administration—but in the open, approved by the entire Senate and executives, to properly account for every dime spent,” he affirmed.
“Regarding the payment of faculty dues, the president has made it mandatory that no payment made through mobile transfers or Point of Sales (POS) will be allowed. Rather, all payments must be done at the (bank) counter to ensure the name and information of every student under the Faculty is reflected in the account. This, we believe will end all corrupt practices, ensuring the betterment of the association and the faculty as a whole,” he added.
