A CALL FOR CHECKS & BALANCES: IS THE FATSSSA CONSTITUTION A JOKE TO THE FHR?

 

Editorial: By Eniola Fase

The maxim "No one is above the LAW" holds immense significance, yet it seems the FHR has overlooked this principle, evidenced by their disregard for the FATSSSA Constitution. Let's address a particularly troubling issue first — The Quorum.

As per the updated FATSSSA Constitution, Article 18, Section 2 stipulates that "For major decisions to be reached, not less than two-thirds (2/3) of the members of the House present shall form the Quorum." The Chief Whip of the FHR, Honourable Opeyemi, confidently affirmed on February 20th that there are presently 29 Honourables in the House. In essence, at least 19 Honourables MUST be present at a sitting before major decisions can be made. Now, let's rewind to January 26th, 2024. During the sitting on this day, two significant decisions were made. The first involved a motion to impeach the Social Director if he failed to provide proof of transactions for the Picnic. The second was a recall of Honourable Joy Ohime Banks. According to live reporting by the Press, 11 Honourable members voted for the Social Director to present the necessary documents within 48 hours, while 6 Honourables voted for him to present the documents before the next sitting. This indicates that 18 Honourables were in attendance, with 17 Honourables voting, excluding the Speaker. The first question arises: how was that decision made without the required Quorum?

Although the Chief Whip claimed in a press interview that 20 Honourables were present that day, later clarifying that some Honourables were late and, according to the attendance list, three people indeed arrived late. Regardless, during the vote on the Social Director, there were only 18 Honourables present.

Before the vote for the Social Director, the previous item on the agenda was the recall of Joy Ohime Banks. While the FATSSSA Press did not specify the exact number of Honourables that voted for this motion, as a witness at the sitting, I am confident to a significant extent that there were only 17 Honourables present. I stand to be corrected. Thus, regardless of the number of Honourables that voted for a recall, there were not enough Honourables at that time to meet the Quorum requirement. In her interview, the Chief Whip corroborated this, meaning that the two decisions made during that sitting were COMPLETELY INVALID!

While I ponder why the House chose to disregard the Quorum and hastily recall Joy Ohime Banks, aside from shedding light on the FHR’s inability to take responsibility during difficult times, Joy Ohime Banks clearly stated that he believed it was perhaps deliberate, with some hidden intention behind it.

Moving on, the FHR has a history of ignoring the Quorum to make major decisions during sittings. For instance, on February 16th, the President of the Faculty, along with a few Congressmen present, confirmed, although not with 100% certainty, that the number of Honourables present at that sitting was less than 10. Furthermore, during the sitting on March 1st, 2024, only 15 Honourables were present, which did not meet the Quorum requirement. Additionally, when questioned, the Speaker mentioned that some Honourables had vacated their seats, yet there was no official release to support this claim.

Moving away from the Quorum topic, Document 1, number 20 of the FATSSSA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES (FHR) UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN STANDING ORDERS states that “The House sitting shall not exceed six (6) hours except if overruled by the House, but the House shall go on recess after 2 hours, which shall last for 15 minutes.” With absolute certainty, I can confirm that the Honourables of the House failed to adhere to this rule; perhaps it was scrapped out from the copies they own because never for once this session has this been followed.

Now, let's delve into the sitting held on October 20th, 2023. A thorough deliberation took place concerning whether to disregard the lack of financial obligations made by students of the Faculty interested in joining the Association Committee. While Honourable Komolafe Oluwapelumi vehemently insisted that this should not be overlooked, citing Article 3, Section 1 of the FATSSSA Constitution, which states that “Membership of FATSSSA shall be open to All bona fide students of the Faculty of the Social Sciences who have fulfilled their financial obligations to the Associations," some other Honourables disagreed. Madame Speaker then encouraged Honourables to vote for or against Honourable Oluwapelumi claim. With total disdain, Former Honourable Joy Ohime Banks stood to remind the House of the supremacy of the Constitution, asserting that they cannot vote against what the Constitution clearly states. This forced the House to comply with the Constitution.

This raises the critical question: Are the Executives asleep? Checks and Balances are crucial in a democratic setting, and the Executives have utterly failed in this regard. Their duties extend beyond the constitution! Where were they when all this was happening? Where was the President? I am certain they would not be able to answer this, as they are usually the first to leave sittings as if they are not supposed to be there.

This is a plea to the Executives to check the activities of the FHR and ensure strict adherence to the supremacy of the constitution.