Not even death could exculpate the late Chairman of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), Mr. Franklin Matthew from the ongoing investigation into several allegations of malfeasance culminating in the alleged embezzlement of N118milion from the coffers of the Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO) chapter of the union.
This is also as his Treasurer, one Mr. Uche Nwokeji is alleged to have continued on the same path by shrouding financial transactions of the union in secrecy and unilaterally running huge expenses without approval of the union.
Senior Staff members of FUTO have therefore continued to raise issues of concern regarding how their union’s finances is being mismanaged.
While some are threatening court actions, others have swiftly moved to petition the anti-graft agency, the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) over the alleged embezzlement of N118 million by the said treasurer in concert with the late chairman.
The petition signed by a senior staff of the University, one Mr. Edison Ugwumba and dated 4th November, 2020 read in part: “Article 15(e) of the union provides that the Treasurer shall render financial account annually and also at the quadrennial delegate conference. Contrary to this provision, the Treasurer has deliberately refused to render account to members since the past four years he assumed office. This has kept member completely in the dark as to the financial state of the union.
“Instead the late Chairman and the Treasurer kept spending the union money without approval from either the branch executive committee or the congress of members. The late Chairman and the Treasurer planned and purchased a 2004 Model Toyota Highlander official vehicle at inflated cost of N7m when the market price of the vehicle was about N2.5m.”
The petition alleged that after the death of the Chairman in June 2020, the Treasurer has refused to make the Acting Chairman, Mrs. Agnes Nti and the Secretary, Mr. Aku signatories to the union account.
The petition noted that the tenure of the late Chairman and the branch executives including the Treasurer had elapsed on the 5th of October, 2020.
“But I was reliably informed that since the expiration of his tenure on October 5th, 2020, the Treasurer has single-handedly and arbitrarily withdrawn the sum of over N15million from the union accounts.
While listing several other areas of misdemeanor, the petitioner called upon the ICPC to thoroughly investigate the activities of the Treasurer between 2016 and 2020 especially as it affects the finances of SSANU.
Urging the ICPC to block the accounts of the union, Mr. Edison Ugwumba wrote: “I also request that the bank accounts of the union be blocked for the time being pending the outcome of the investigations.”
The affected accounts are: Diamond Bank Account Number: 0004104149; Union Bank Account Numbers: 0012502319 and 0039239399; and the FUTO Micro-Finance Bank account Numbers: 0011101111 and 0011141248.
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