PART2: Allegations Against Me Are Political: Suspended Welfare Sec justifies "shock absorber" expenses

Suspended university of Ilorin Student Union welfare secretary, has justified the expenses he termed "shock absorber," in an interview with UCJ Unilorin.

Asukuti reacts to the audio played on the floor of the house. In his reaction, he says:

    "They paid me only twice. In the audio played on the floor of the house, they failed to ask the Cooperative Chairman of the Napep Union which Union do they pay in to? He (Multipurpose Cooperative Chairman) just said we have started paying since November. They suppose to ask, to who?"

In addition to the allegations on ground, Asukuti revealed that there is need for more clarifications. He told UCJ Unilorin that, "the Multipurpose Cooperative Keke Association is not under the Students' Union. However, they are on their own and are responsible to the Cooperative Society of the University of Ilorin staff.

Asukuti explains what he meant by the phrase "SHOCKS ABSORBER...."

Asukuti Clears The Air On What He Meant By "Shock-absorber".

Mr. Asukuti, the suspended Welfare Secretary of the Students' Union reaffirms the fact that, the Six Thousand Naira paid through Mr. Kayode Ayinde, the Financial Secretary Students' Union Keke Association, to the office of the Welfare as a result of the two-week contributions in the month of January by the Students' Union Keke Association was remitted to the office of the Financial Secretary of the Students' Union as at when due. In his words, he said:

     "The Financial Secretary(SU Keke Association), Mr Kayode Ayinde is the person that normally brings the money. He is in charge of the finance and brought the money. When he called me for the first week, I said he should keep it, that we will see later -I am busy. And the second he came with the sum of SixThousand Naira. Immediately, I got to the Union Building, I remmitted it to the Financial Secretary. But unfortunately, when I got to the Senate Council, they came with another record. They played a record of that of the Chairman of Cooperative which claim they have been paying. Paying to who? It is their own association."

Asukuti further revealed that, students do not understand the nature of the duties of the office of the Welfare Secretary of the Students' Union, especially in terms of the way money is being used to cater for certain cogent daily needs of certain students on campus.

He said, instead the majority assume that a lot of money is accumulated and misappropriated at the long run. However, to avoid such from happening, he decided to create a platform in which certain amounts would be kept aside to address such cogent needs or issues. This, he termed 'shock absorber'. He asserted that:

     "This money is targeted at helping those that are working with us at the park on a daily basis. But you know because the money is ehn...you know, Three Thousand Naira on a weekly basis, people believe the money will be getting high on a daily basis. Then, they said okay, maybe we should turn part of it as shock-absorber. That is, when we have an emergency issue, we should  be using that money to address those issues, he explained.

He further justified his idea on 'shock absorber' by stating practical instances of the application of his idea. For instance, he believes that the budget does not provide for such issues as miscellaneous. He said: 

  
  "You know the Union has a budget. We have our proposed budget. It is the amount you will expect without any miscellaneous. Now, when we now have some miscellaneous issues, emergency issues, it is part of this money we use to treat these issues. For instance, if a student complains that, 'hello, l am not having any money to go home' or 'there is nothing, I'm hungry'. We give them Two Hundred Naira. And all these things, we take from the shock-absorber. All these money, students get it from the Welfare Secretary. Those that work for us at the University park, when they finish work every night, I do buy them something and since inception of this Students' Union, I have never for once collected Ten Naira from the Union, even out of the shock absorber. The shock absorber just started about two weeks ago."

He further stated that, "Those who are working with us on the park," and he gave his view on the connotative messages he reads to the allegations against him. This was his take:

"The Welfare Unit has a special commitee of all Non-Senator members including the Man O' War , Cadets, they are under the Welfare Secretary. Everytime they work for us, I must entertain them because this thing is a voluntary job, because they are putting human efforts to the development of the university and to make better the welfare status of the entire students of the university. But you know, not everybody will gain insight to this. And one thing is this, some set of people are just living fake lives in order to impress the popularity. You know all these issues against me are just for political tackle. You know everybody that come to the Union, they come with different mission and different vision".

The Financial Secretary of the Keke NAPEP Association, Mr. Kayode Ayinde, confirmed what both the chairman of the Multipurpose Cooperative Keke Association and the Secretary of the Students' Union Keke Association, said concerning their involvements with the Students' Union, specifically the office of the Welfare Secretary.

He further said that, there is really nothing he has to add to what has been said by them. This is because he believes, as the governing body of the associations, they always rightly stand for them (other members of the Association) when issues like this with either the security unit or university management arise.

He also stated that, if they are the ones in charge of the finance and monetary transactions done in and out of the union of the keke riders, then, they are baffled at the facts leading to the suspension of the Welfare Secretary of the Students' Union.

Bamigbaye Jesulonii,

UCJ, UNILORIN.