What Is Going On In LASUSU? - II

Has the mandate of Tobun tumbled? We've brought you the full gist in broad perspective.

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On Monday, June 24, 2024, the Lagos State University Student Union Parliamentary Council held an emergency sitting and suspended the union President, Comrade Haroun Tobun from office. As much as it would be fitting to say ‘How the mighty have fallen’, one may need to take a trip down memory lane to understand how it all started.

A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE

On Wednesday November 1, 2023, the LASUSU elections were held and unlike previous elections we have witnessed, there was a very noticeable apathy from students and surprisingly, candidates until the Election Day itself. The manifesto reading event was met with so much disinterest from students that many thought the elections would no longer hold. Alas, it did.

In that election, we witnessed and reported large disenfranchisement of voters, severe electoral misconducts and several reports of over voting and threats. All these led the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) to declare the results inconclusive.

Yet, it was not, much of a surprise that a few days later, the election results were now declared conclusive by the same IEC which earlier declared it inconclusive. This new declaration and one of the most pathetic excuse of an election that we have ever witnessed, produce the Tobun Led Administration.

From then, everything was going fine, well we thought it was, until we received the news of the suspension of a cabinet member after certain investigations.

On the previous episode of What is going on in LASUSU, we reported the issue of the suspension of the LASUSU PRO, Comrade Ibiade Benjamin.

Ibiade was said to have been suspended after an investigation was conducted into allegations of “perpetrated financial misappropriation, lack of accountability and manifested misconduct imminent in his show of disrespect to the Hallowed Chamber and flagrant disregard to the provision of the constitution” against him as stated in a press release.

However, Ibiade was not alone in this as other members of the Executive-In-Council; the president, financial officer and sports director were said to have been involved. Not long after, Ibiade’s suspension was removed and he and the other erring officials were expected to serve a sanction of tendering a letter of apology to the Vice President and the student populace along with a two-week community service to correct their lacunas.

Yes, Ibiade served his suspension time but for the other executive members including Comrade Tobun, we are unaware of them doing their community service, neither did we get informed that they submitted the letter of apology to the Vice President. Maybe they are above the law guiding the LASUSU.

NOT SO ABOVE THE LAW .

On today's matter, we discuss the issue of our President's suspension.

The all-powerful president Comrade Haroun Tobun reportedly locked the office of the Transport Management Committee (TMC) as we were told by a source who wishes to remain anonymous. The TMC had been suspended by the house, and an acting committee was put in place.

During a sitting called to discuss the lack of access to amenities by students, the members of the Executive-In-Council were called upon to explain why students were being denied these benefits. The executive members claimed that there was no money to pay for these amenities which led the speaker to call for another sitting in which the acting TMC Chairperson and secretary were also invited.

The acting TMC Chairperson gave a detailed report of all the revenue generated and mentioned that the money had been given to the president upon his request but Comrade Tobun feigned amnesia of the particular date he collected the money.

The president was also unable to account for the sum of N120,000 paid by the executive members of LASULAWS for the usage of LASUSU Buses into an account he gave, owned by one Muiz Ogundeji.

In addition, Tobun was said to have impersonated the Acting TMC Chairperson by assigning the duties of the acting TMC Chairperson to the previously suspend chairperson without proper notification.

After further investigation by the house into the allegations of ‘financial misappropriation, lack of accountability, unconstitutional closure of the TMC office, and flagrant disregard for the provisions of the constitution’, Comrade Tobun has been suspended indefinitely and he is now to be replaced by the vice president who is the new Acting President, Comrade Oladiran Mercy.

However, early this morning a press state in the name of our suspended president has been circulating. In this press statement, Tobun claims he is yet to receive an official suspension letter from either the General Secretary or the PRO.

Furthermore, he claims he was not present at the sitting in he which he was suspended, and the absence of the representatives from LASUCOM and EPE renders the decision null and void. He also condemns the house for their unprofessional conduct and abuse of power urging students to disregard the news of his suspension.

For his claims that the quorum was not met, we can confirm that the Epe campus was represented by 3 honorable members and the sitting had over 45 honorable members present which is over half of the 80 honorable members currently in the SPC as some seats have been declared vacant.

Therefore, LASU Life can confirm that Haroun Tobun’s suspension is valid till further notice and he is not above the LASUSU Constitution

It is unclear where the rest of the LASUSU excos stand on this issue, but a source reports an emergency meeting is to take place, as the President still wishes to challenge the ruling of his suspension.

Will there be a Part 3 to this series. Is this going to be a trilogy?

Let's stay tuned to find out.

📝: Ayo Oladiran, Deputy Editor, LASULife. 🛩

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