Ogun Poly SU President allegedly forges signatures to steal N.785 Million

The authorities of Abraham Adesanya Polytechnic, Ogun State, have accused the Students’ Union executives of misappropriating of a sum of N785,000, CAMPUS REPORTER has learnt

The SU executives have therefore been asked to refund the said misappropriated fund – though findings revealed only the president perpetrated the fraud now being investigated by the State Security Service in Ogun State.

But in addition to the refund penalty, one of them, the public relations officer, Caleb Ijioma, is purportedly suspended from the school.

“You will recall that you were alleged to be involved in a reported case of forgery and misappropriation of funds by the students’ union government Executives under the leadership of Ibrahim Lawal,” read an August 8 letter to Mr Ijioma signed by the registrar, Femi Ositale, and sighted by our correspondent.

“You should refund the sum of fifty-one thousand four hundred and thirty naira only out of the mismanaged sum of N785,000.00 to the SUG account on or before July 31, 2018. But the management has given you the ultimatum till Wednesday, 15th August 2018.”

According to Mr Ijioma, he was advised of his suspension by the rector, Jumoke Bilesanmi, on Friday.

“She (rector) equally said it categorically that I will forfeit a year and she can’t change her decision,” he said.

The reason for his suspension may be connected to the social media distribution of the allegations of corruption against the SU president by him.

According to a source in the school, the rector does not want the school’s name in the media for a negative reason. Following Mr Ijioma’s social media post, the rector was said to have been called by a newspaper.

When contacted, the rector confirmed the suspension of Mr Ijioma but denied it followed the student’s social media post.

She stated that the suspension was done after several deliberations most of which she could not disclose to our reporter.

According to her, there are some documents that necessitated the suspension, which could not disclose.

She was unable to state any clear and definite reason for the student’s suspension.

However, a State Security Service official handling the investigation of the alleged misappropriation, Tella Adebowale, said he had been in contact with the rector over the suspension of Mr Ijioma.

“The Rector cannot single-handedly suspend a student,” Mr Adebowale said.

‘Punishing all for one’s sin’

As the security official disclosed during an interview with our correspondent, other executives are being punished for an offence committed by one person, the president, Ibrahim Lawal.

“I was aware that some of them were told to refund a sum of money to the union account and we settled it,” Mr Adebowale said. “Only for me to get to the office and see some of the executives, who were exonerated, telling me that they’ve been mandated to pay.”

“The President has confessed and he has exonerated most of the union executives. I’ll get back to school on Monday,” he added.

This newspaper gathered that Mr Lawal resigned from office days after he was accused of misappropriation of funds belonging to the SU.

In an audio recording obtained by this newspaper, Mr Lawal confessed to a group of friends that he forged the signatures of his co-executives, who are signatories to SU’s Union Ban account.

However, the school management ordered all the executives to refund the money said to have been diverted by the president.

One of the executives, who spoke under the condition of anonymity to avoid victimization, said the management was aware of the mismanagement and that it was solely perpetrated by the president but others also faced the refund penalty. Each executive is to return a sum N51,430.