Lawsa Bank Accounts "Are" Dormant!!!

It has been revealed that the bank accounts of the Law Students Association, University of Benin are dormant and as such the present LAWSA government has no access to them. 

The revelation was made by the Financial Secretary of the association, Stanley Umeh during the budget presentation of the Executive arm of government to Congress on Friday 21st of January.

Stanley Umeh. 

The genesis of the whole saga was when in his budget presentation, Mr Stanley stated that the LAWSA Account was empty.

This was baffling to the congressmen and they demanded more clarity on the assertion.

Eke Martins, whip of the 400level confronted the Financial secretary and said he had insulted congress and LAWSA. He was quick to point out, that LAWSANs especially those in 100level have been paying their dues, and that he personally had paid his dues, he and other congressmen demanded to know how come the LAWSA account balance was zero naira.

Rather than address the issue, the Financial secretary sought to spar with hon. Martins citing that he claims to have paid his dues, but he remembers how he was disturbed many times by him (Fin.Sec) to pay, before he eventually did, this further enraged members of the house who felt the Financial secretary was dodging the main issue and launching a personal attack on the Honourable member of the house.

The Speaker Nna Victor had to step in and cautioned the Honourable congressmen not to attack the financial secretary and that the financial secretary should face the main issues and not concern the house with events leading to the payment of dues.

The Financial secretary perhaps dived deeper into murky waters when in reply, he said the association had two accounts, one being the 'LAWSA Bus project' account, and the other been the main LAWSA account, but that the association presently had no access to them.
This disclosure further sounded like a clang on the ears of congressmen, because rather than answer the previous question, it opened a channel for more questions to flood in.

How is it possible for the accounts to be dormant?

Did this start from previous administrations?

How then did they and the present administration manage the funds, were some of the questions the honourable congressmen asked.

The financial secretary in attempt to provide more clarity stated that the issue started from the "Innocent Osagu led administration" and that whatever monies that the Excos  presently have been collected from LAWSAns were being kept "somewhere".

Innocent Osagu. 

Congressmen were getting impatient now, because they felt that they were being led deliberately away from the main issue and that the financial secretary was being evasive as to the definition of 'somewhere' and 'how much' was in that 'somewhere.
The Speaker had to step in and called for the house to calm down, and permitted the President to provide illumination on the matter.

Mr president, pleaded with the congressmen to show respect for LAWSA executives standing before them and not try to put them on the spot or use choice words on them. Addressing the issue he confirmed the statement of the Financial secretary on the existence of two LAWSA accounts which the present association had no access to. This according to him was so because the administration of former LAWSA President, "Innocent Osagu" who were signatories to such account did not transfer such to the "Lauretta Ezeugbor led administration" (who operated from a 'special' account) who in turn could not do so to his administration.

Lauretta Nebechi Ezeugbor. 

President Garrick also said that steps were in place to make sure the transfer of signatories was successful and the dormant accounts revived, that he had even contacted Innocent personally.
He assured that the monies collected from LAWSAns in the form of dues were being kept "somewhere safe within the faculty", and revealed that the amount so far collected was "13,400 naira". 

It would be recalled that the President in an exclusive interview with ULP disclosed that his government "inherited a debt of 29,000 naira"
During his address to the congressmen, he gave more details as to the nature of the debt.
He said that the association owed the said 29,000 naira to the former President Lauretta Nebechi Ezeugbor and Director Of Sports, Kuzi Magaji.

The Speaker of the House, Hon. Nna Victor on getting to know the details of the debt was not happy at all that the Executive arm took such into account. Nna Victor, "the President has just intimated the house on the debt that he inherited. I say that is a bad debt and it should be discountenanced. They (former administration) have not come to account for it, or whatever they spent while in office. In fact they did not properly hand over to you. As far as this house is concerned, such a debt is non-existent". 
This resolution of the Speaker was greeted with approval from congressmen.

ULP Sources gathered on investigation that, while there was no transfer signatories to the Lauretta government, there were plans underground at the time to open another LAWSA account with Fidelity Bank which did not materialize.
On further inquiries, it was ascertained that the said "Bus Project Account" had more than 300,000 naira as the account balance while the other account details are yet to be known.
It remains to see what happens next and how this revelation will affect the scheme of things in the University of Benin Faculty of Law Students Association.