OUR STAND
It so disturbing each time to see the LASPOTECH union
Government, on social media platforms serving as topic for discussion and
usually not for positive reasons. This is as a result of the persistent and
seemingly unending internal crises that has continued to rock the Union.
It seems for each step taken forward, three are taken
backwards and this has prevented them from achieving the goals for which it was
established and has turned it into a laughing stock among its peers and the
general public.
There’s never been a time in the recent dispensation of the
Lagos State Polytechnic Student Union Government (LASPOSUG) that the issue of
suspending and denial of suspension of its top officials is more pronounced
than it is now. The most recent of this suspension spree was the report in the
internet space on March 28. 2018 by Ëngist Media “that the president of
the Student Union Government (SUG) Comrade Jubril Adewale Rahman stands suspended
till further notice for what was referred to as “omission of his constitutional
duties and unruly behaviour”. This resolution was a decision by the Student
Representative Council (SRC). The SRC claimed that the president failed to
present the budget for 2017/2018 academic session on the required date after
failing to present the said budget on two different occasions which they regard
as negligence of duty on the part of the president.
One would have thought that the decision by the SRC would
gain ground but as typical of this administration, after a brief meeting with
the management and the speaker, a broadcast message was sent out pending the
action taken to suspend the president on that same day stating that the
suspended president is to resume his duties.
In another counter claim, The SUG’s public relations
officer, Comrade Semiu Balogun has it that the suspension of the president was
not constitutional; hence he remains the head of the union. He went as far as
regarding the information on the suspension of the president in his word as
baseless and regarded the SRC sitting as alien to the Article 18 subsection(2)
of the Union’s constitution.
This claim of the Union’s spokesman according to some
concerned members of the polytechnic community is indeed not the holistic
representation of the Union’s constitution as he neglects the section that the
SRC has the power to suspend the president and any other elected official with
a 2/3 majority vote in support of such suspension.
It is pertinent to note that this pattern of suspension,
denial of suspension and sudden reinstatement has gradually become a landmark
of the current administration led by Comrade Jubril. One would recall that
earlier in the year, the welfare director was reported to have been suspended
after a faceoff with the president and the next report after this was the
denial of such suspension by the welfare director himself stating that the
president has no power to do such. The question begging for answers on the lips
of many certainly is the question of who or what body has the legitimate power
to suspend another official in the SUG or is this a mere superiority
contest by its officials?
It is less than seven months to the expiration of this
administration and all we see from the elected officers is a game of claims and
counter claims. The student union government should not be seen as force
mitigation against its own progress. It is in this light that the Judicial arm
of the union saddled with the responsibility of interpreting the law should
come out and tell the Polytechnic community in clear terms who or what body in
the Union has the power to suspend rather the current pattern of unending
suspension and sudden reinstatement.
Comments
Post a Comment