At the 10th Ordinary Sitting for the 2023/2024 tenure of the UCH Students’ Association (USA) Students’ Representative Council, held on Sunday, 17th November 2024, via Google Meet, Mr Uzor David, who served as the 13th President of the Association, was impeached on second counts of ‘misappropriation of funds and undermining the integrity of the association’.
Mr Uzor David was adjudged to have made an erroneous deduction from the Association’s account, diverted funds meant for the Christopher Osunbote Games into other activities of the USA, and failed to provide the Healthweek report at the sitting, among others. The first two actions, in particular, and in light of his previous counts, effectively fulfilled the requirements for impeachment in Article VI, Section 14, Sub-section 6 which states that “Any member of the executive council shall be removed from office by 2/3rd majority vote of honorable present at a duly constituted SRC meeting if he is found guilty on two occasions of any of the following: a) Embezzlement of funds b) Breach of constitution on two occasions c) Failure to carry out his duty d) Any action that the SRC considers to have undermined the integrity of the Association“.
This necessitated the enforcement of Sub-sections 7,8, and 9, of the USA Constitution, stating that, “In the event of Misappropriation or Embezzlement of funds, the officer in question must refund the money to the Association within 30days. . Any member of the Executive Council, shall cease to be in office to perform his/her duty if there is a motion of impeachment against him/her pending the final determination of such a case by the SRC” and “Any member of the executive found guilty by resolution of 2/3rd majority of the SRC present at a duly constituted meeting after the recommendation of a duly constituted committee (of which all members are honorable) shall not be eligible to contest for any position in the Association throughout his membership of University College” In addition, the SRC resolved that ‘he is to provide a report on the financial statement and expenditure of the recently concluded Healthweek’; and ‘failure to adhere to the resolutions would warrant the involvement of higher authorities’.
The UIMSA Press reached out to trusted sources to confirm more details concerning the impeachment. One such, an Honorable representing UIMSA, explained that, about the erroneous deductions, “Some of the things observed [in the USA Financial report] were that there were erroneous deductions made that were not in the budget and approved made by the President’s office. The Financial Secretary said he didn’t realize that they had gone past the date that the budget was approved for. The budget was approved till June, but there were no adjustments made, and so any withdrawals made were beyond that”. A copy of the report made available to the Press revealed that the sum of 16,850 Naira was erroneously withdrawn by Uzor, and is to be refunded. However, this specific refund was left out of the notice circulated by the USA SRC in the early hours of Monday, 18th November 2024, announcing his impeachment.
On the failure to present the Healthweek Financial Report, the USA Financial Secretary, Nnamdi Chikere, defended his actions with a letter, placing the buck at the foot of the Social Director, Akosile Favour, who also deferred to the erstwhile President. An excerpt from the letter shows a conversation held with Favour on November 10th, where in response to his [Nnamdi’s] request for the financial report of the Healthweek, Favour said, “I can’t send one. I never handled the finances or did I for once reach out to you concerning money throughout the week? I’m really sorry but it’s the President that did most of it”. She reiterated this during the sitting. When questioned, Uzor attempted to defer to the Committee Heads before a reprimand from an Honourable. It was also revealed that the Treasurer was not involved in the disbursement of funds, in any regard, contrary to Article V, Section 11, Sub-section 31, of the USA Constitution. Upon deliberation, the House decided via a 4-2 vote, to fine both Uzor and Favour, a sum of 1,000 Naira, and ordered both to provide a report on the financial statement and expenditure of the Healthweek.
The aftermath of this was a discussion on the Christopher Osunbote Games. The Sports Director, Temidayo Akinruli, explained that the delay was due to Uzor. The USA had received 1 Million Naira in sponsorship for the Games as far back as June, and the total amount budgeted for the Games, as of September, was One Million Thirteen Thousand Four Hundred and Seven Naira, Fifty Kobo. However, beyond 184,600 Naira for the preliminary stages, and other additions that eventually added up to ‘about 200,000 Naira’, according to Akinruli, no other funds were disbursed for the Games, by the President. This delay resulted in the Prizes not being presented on the final day of individual games as has been the norm. It also prevented the proposed Marathon from taking place. Despite public callouts from Akinruli and Charles Opara, Co-Head Organiser for the COG Games, there was still no disbursement. It wasn’t until 13th November, four days after the deadline of 9th November initially given to Akinruli by Uzor, that the USA put out a statement, ‘apologising for the long silence and delayed response regarding the COG Games’ and announcing a new date of Friday, 22nd November, for the presentation of medals and prizes.
Uzor explained the delay as primarily originating from the paucity of funds for the Healthweek, leading to the diversion of the COG Funding to cater to these needs. Supposedly, fundraising was ‘hard’, so the COG funding was spent with the ‘belief’ that money would come in to replace it. He also attributed the poor communication with the Sports Director and Charles to an examination he had and his busy academic schedule. He implied that he had been misunderstood about the 9th November deadline. Again, this drew reprimands from members of the SRC, with Honourables pointing out this being misappropriation. An attempt was made by the Financial Secretary to term it ‘misapplication of funds’ rather than misappropriation, which was quickly shut down.
Aside from this, there was also the failure of the Cultural Night. Uzor explained that this was due to a misunderstanding with the management of Bottles Republik. Then, the Bonfire, with Uzor failing to meet the agreements made with the DJ and Hypeman, leading to the Head of the Bonfire Committee, Adeji-Paul Promise, having to pay the balance out of his pocket. There were comments made concerning the inaction of Uzor, as well as other Executives, during the blackout.
The culmination of all of this was a 7-0 unanimous vote in favour of his impeachment. Notably, both counts of misappropriation of funds and undermining the integrity of the association, are his second. The former was earlier, on April 7th, 2024, when he, the Financial Secretary, and former Social Director, Titofarati Yusuf, were found guilty of misappropriation of funds, and suspended for 3 days, after using “money meant for an approved event for another [separate] event without informing the SRC”, according to the Speaker, Omotayo Goodluck; the latter, was also this year, when the Financial Secretary, “used the property of the association for his personal use, with the President being aware” and both were subsequently fined.
The impeachment is the most recent in a series of controversial actions and inactions of the USA, including an extended tenure, the rationale for which has not been sufficiently defined. It is left to be seen what’s resolved at the next sitting of the USA SRC. It’s also to be seen if Uzor will meet the demands of the House.
