By Habeeb Olokooba
Once upon a time in human history. There lived a judge who was a corrupt one. He was so engrossed in the art of injustice that the mass of the people knew how corrupt he was and hated him for that behavior. Sequel to this, people took his matter before the king who ordered that his skin be peeled off from his body alive. A very painful death— the king’s verdict.
Subsequently, his skin was used to make a new seat for a new judge who happened to be his (the late judge) son. The moral is to remind him of how grieving it is to do injustice and the punishment awaiting.
The story brings us to the situation in my school. To be just as a judge is a must and a matter of necessity. To be accountable is a prerequisite to holding people accountable.
I will say it’s right for Shamsudeen Umar to be the Chairman advisory committee– since he was accountable and transparent during his time as the Students’ Union Caretaker Committee chairman. When he left office, in fact, he gave an account of all the revenue generated during his tenure! And also appeared before the Zero Tolerance for Corruption (ZTC) to account for expenditure with what, when, how and where.
The popular saying— “You can’t give what you never have” fits in this situation. I believe if there should be a committee to see to the strife between the Students Union and the SRA, it should be someone or a body with credibility in character and transparency in action. Maybe ZTC, maybe Judiciary.
Like bringing an ex-convict to come to see to matters which he gets involved in every day, like appointing Buhari to investigate Tinubu. There would not be justice. Students Judicial Council establishment remains a misery while Zero tolerance is busy chasing misdemeanants. And those who ought to bring to book are given appointments.
With lots of projects abandoned, with fake resignations, where is the revenue generated during Shamsudeen’s tenure? Where is our momento? Unless I am convinced, I will agree less with my brain that he was fit for the position as the chairman advisory committee. He needs to be investigated and not be made an investigator.