5M NAIRA SCANDAL: ACJ OAU THREATENS LEGAL ACTION AGAINST ACCUSATIONS .

Thursday, 18th January, 2018.
By Olufemi Alfred .O.


     The attention of the public has been drawn to a widely circulated news piece, which stated that the Association of Campus Journalists, Obafemi Awolowo University chapter, demanded the sum of 5 million naira from the university management for a leadership summit. The leadership of the Association in question reacted to the allegations levelled against the aegis of Campus Journalists.

    The news piece written by Bamidele Williams, a campus journalist, sent online on Wednesday, stated 'ACJ OAU in a 5 million unholy connivance with the management'. The Vice Chancellor and Dean of the Division of Students' Affairs were reported to have confirmed the demand.
 
 "While the leadership of such body of Journalists are expected to be fierce-fearless wordsmiths, with immutable pen eternally loaded with literary bullets haunting vices in the university community; the recent happenings has proved otherwise." the young journalist faulted the competence of the Association.
 

    In an investigation carried out by OAU KILONSHELE, it was discovered that the Association has been planning her annual International Campus Journalists Conference(ICJC) and the launching of the maiden edition of her magazine with the budgeted sum of Five million naira.


     As confirmed by our correspondent, the association also wrote to the university management requesting a letter of recommendation to sponsors in a bid to raise the funds for the forthcoming programmes. The letter was sent in the last few days of December, 2017.

      In a meeting with the Dean of the Division of Students' affairs, Isiaka Aransi, the reports stated that the letter of recommendation requested was just received on the 17th of January 2018.  
       
      Against the claims of the writer, the Dean denied the disclosure of the request to anyone. He affirmed that registered students' associations are entitled to recommendation letters according to the university's codes and conducts.

       Moreover, the popular letter of recommendation provided, was dated '5th, October 2017' on the Division's letter headed paper. It had the name of the Dean on it but not duly signed.

      However, the result of our findings shows that the Association renewed her registration on the 8th of November, 2017. It was made known that no students association can enjoy the benefits of registration such as the receipt of a letter of recommendation, before the registration date or sessional renewal date.

     In a rejoinder signed by the leadership of the Association; Okeowo Olasunkanmi and Bamidele Seun, the President and the Secretary General respectively, the association denied every of the allegations by highlighting the errors committed in the Bamidele's write up.

    The rejoinder stated that the Association requested for a letter of recommendation to be given to their ICJC sponsors and not for a leadership summit.

    Also, that the letter was written by the Office of the Registrar and not the Association to the DSA, which indicated the process for receiving the letter.

    Futhermore, the association resolved to take legal as the news piece was tagged 'libelous' and requested the writer to either provide an evidence for his claims or retract the piece by writing a rejoinder within the space of 24hrs.

"The Association of Campus Journalists, Obafemi Awolowo University has never and will never compromise on the moral standard and ethics of journalism and will keep asserting the strength of the pen in every possible way." the rejoinder buttressed.
   
     Meanwhile, our investigations revealed that the writer was the one, whose news outfit, PigeonPost, broke the news about the rustication of a student for not meeting up with the academic threshold of 1.0 minimum Cumulative Grade point Average (CGPA); which OAU KILONSHELE reported to be erroneous, as nothing of such existed.