Impersonation: Fasakin hits back, says Kilani, real impersonator

The Dr. Wale Fasakin-led executive committee of the University of Ilorin Alumni Association has described as “unguarded and misdirected” the claim by Prof. AbdulRasaq Kilani that he is being impersonated as the group’s president.

Kilani’s faction had earlier on Sunday accused Fasakin of parading himself as the association’s president three years after his removal for abuse of office.

The Association’s National Executive Committee (NEC) and the Chapter Chairmen, in a statement by the National Vice President II, Mr. Yomi Olumuyide, and Segun Onipinwa (for chapter chairmen), reacting to a recent online news publication by Kilani accusing Fasakin of “impersonating” him, said the development categorized the word as misdirected, as Kilani himself is the person impersonating Fasakin.

The statement said: Kilani’s submission can be viewed as the whimper of a child who lost his way running an errand for some community tyrants.

The group stated: “Dr. Wale Fasakin and his Executive Committee are still the authentic apex body of the Association, as the purported congress held by the Kilani group at a beer parlour sometime this year to appoint him (Kilani) as National President and some other faceless persons as the executive committee was a mere kindergarten drama and a demonstration of crass ignorance of the law, as a case with Suit No: KWS/92/2021 involving the Association is still pending before a competent court of law in Ilorin, whereby the status quo ante bellum is still and or ought to be retained.”

Fasakin accused Kilani’s faction of lacking adequate knowledge of the history and current affairs of the Association.

According to him, they were obviously not properly briefed about the said court case and the implications it continues to portend for them.

“Kilani’s group and the slave-drivers behind the wheel driving the vehicle erroneously boarded by Mr. Kilani and his group are heading towards an accident waiting to happen.

“We have said it repeatedly, and everyone can start to see it now, that Mr. Kilani and his group are not proven members of the University of Ilorin Alumni Association, but mere errand boys used by certain craftors to fetch their burnt chestnuts out of a raging fire. Surely, their fingers will get burnt as they have unguidedly allowed themselves to be led into the race of an ungirth runner. They should start to get ready to face the wrath of the law in due course,” they warned.

Fasakin’s group, however, accused the varsity’s Vice-Chancellor of complicity and favoritism in a matter he ought to handle with neutrality.

“Further, we are bold to say that these claims were notified to the office and the person of the current Vice-Chancellor, Professor Egbewole SAN. He chose to neither arrest the tide nor resolve the matter appropriately. It appears and will continue to appear that the Vice-Chancellor, who was part of the alleged caretaker group before becoming the Vice-Chancellor, still takes sides with them.

“We supposed the Vice-Chancellor should be a father figure to all parties. It is sad to view the opposite. Also, it would interest anyone to know that the said purported caretaker committee was not recognized by the Association’s constitution.

“Dr. Fasakin gave the Alumni Association a loan of one million naira, paid into the Alumni Association’s microfinance bank account in two installments of N500,000 each in August 2020, to be able to pay the salaries of the Association’s staff working at the two hostels and at the secretariat during the COVID-19 period.

“The National Executive Council hereby calls on EFCC, ICPC, and DSS to look into the unauthorised operation of the Association’s accounts since 2021 to date,” it urged.

The statement recalled that Fasakin has been running the Association with his personal money since 2021 “when the enemies of the Association succeeded, via the help of the University, in hijacking the Association’s bank accounts from the said Fasakin-led ExCo.

“Again, we assert that the Vice-Chancellor is aware of all these under-dealings because we informed him in writing, hoping he would be a neutral umpire to stop the irregularities. He neither responds to our protests nor stops the caretaker’s misdeeds,” adding: “It was on record that the Vice-Chancellor, in respect of certain suits in court, particularly the one instituted by the Law Alumni group and the one instituted by one Omipidan, instructed the parties concerned to withdraw the suits and revert to him for amicable settlement. Dr. Fasakin, demonstrating great respect to the VC, withdrew his own counter suits, but the other party, in a display of lack of respect to the VC, did not. That particular suit is still pending in court, set to proceed next year.

“The Chancellor and Chairman of Council were also briefed about all these issues. He promised to wade into the matter, but he is yet to show everyone, including the university community and the whole world, any iota of honoring his words.

“We, in strong terms, advise Mr. Kilani and his group to refrain from ‘counting the slaves.’ If, truly, Mr. Kilani wants to show that he is a professor, let him sleep over the submissions herein and recategorize the set of people who have turned the Association into an ATM card and the new set of people, like him and his purported ExCo, benefitting from it,” it alleged.