"Let’s embrace peace" Observation apologises to Unilorites

The President of the Students' Union of the University of Ilorin, Com. Alao Idris Ibrahim (Observation) has apologised to all Unilorites over the statement released by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Com. Olaleye Nurudeen in response to the open letter written by a 300 level student of the Faculty of Communications and Information Science, Mr. Akeukanwo Sulaiman.In a release, which was personally signed by him, on Saturday 23rd April 2016, and made available to members of the Public, a copy of which was obtained by the Union of Campus Journalists (UCJ), University of Ilorin chapter. The president confirmed that he was personally served the letter on Monday, before his departure from the University, he however said that there was a mix-up in the release by his media aide. "I would like to point out here that there were some mix-ups in the replied statement at the point of release, the copy that went viral wasn't the perfectly edited one" he said.While responding to some issues raised in the open letter, the President affirmed that, there has been no single case of students having their bath outside the hostel, he also emphasised that there is no open air bathrooms in the University hostels, insisting that since there is a fixed number of students in each room, over crowdedness could only occur due to squatting. In his own words: "Squatting is a misconduct and could only be associated with those who allowed it".While commenting on other issues, the president insisted that he has not received any report from any faculty or departmental associations that their dues were left in the coffers of the faculty deans and head of departments without been released to them.He observed that the issue of sexual harassment raised in the letter is defaming, as the writer failed to provide any instance to buttress his point. On the inability of his administration to hold ordinary congresses in the first semester, the president said: "We called the first ordinary congress during the first semester twice but there was poor turnout and we could not meet the quorum"On the 108 students been investigated by the University management, the president didn't dwell much on it, insisting that it's an ongoing matter, and that the Students' Union under his leadership will notrelent in it efforts to demand for justice.While tendering his unreserved apologies to Unilorites, the President craved a collective understanding over the issue, and pleaded with everyone to embrace peace: "On behalf of myself, mySA media and the leadership of the Union entirely, i hereby apologise to all members of the Union who have been offended by the statement", the president said.It was however observed that, the President neglected some other areas raised in the Open letter. Our correspondents gathered that, the Issue of Sweatshirts was left unattended to, likewise the president failed to address the constitutional breaches by his administration,such as the monthly publication of the state of the Union's account, the inability of his administration to display copies of theapproved budget as stipulated in the constitution, and the state of the toilet facilities in the Bukateria.As at the time of filing this report, we couldn't get the reactions of students who have been visibly angry since the statement released by the President's media aide went viral. UCJ UNILORIN promises to keep you abreast of the issues as they unfold.AbdulGaniy Shehu Reporting for:UCJ UNILORIN