By Maestro
In an emergency meeting called by Chiziterem Ogbonna (Chizzy), the immediate past President of Zik Hall Literary and Debating Society on Friday, 28th of April at exactly 10pm, Chizzy announced the expulsion of Omotayo Ajibola from the L&D and the appointment of Tijani Abdulkabeer, the General Secretary of the society, as the interim President.
The meeting which dragged into the wee hours of the morning saw in attendance all members of the Zik Hall L&D with the discussion touching on the misconducts of the Omotayo during his time in office.
Recall that in a news report on the 28th of April, 2023 by Zik Press, it was revealed that Tayo had announced that Zik Hall would not be showing up for the semifinal rounds of Jaw war against Bello citing reasons including that he was indisposed to speak at the event as the first speaker.
During the emergency meeting which took place at C Block reading room, Chizzy revealed that Tayo’s decision to pull out of the semifinals was not due to him being ‘indisposed’, but probably out
Chizzy also revealed that he had persuaded Tayo that his decision to pull out was not sensible. He also said that he encouraged Tayo to keep on internalizing, and that he (Tayo) should also put a call through him back in ten minutes time, which Tayo never did. He said all his efforts to reach Tayo after the call proved futile.
He further explained that the real reason Tayo dropped his speech few hours to the competition was because he wanted to keep his image and reputation as opposed to the embarrassment of an imperfect delivery. What he failed to consider was that the going on with the decision to pull out would sabotage the image of the Hall and put in vain the sacrifices of speakers in previous rounds of Jaw War and other members of the L&D who had participated in the process.
It was further disclosed that Omotayo had been trailing a path of irresponsibility since preparations for Jaw War began. It was revealed that Omotayo would call for Jaw War preparatory meetings but would be absent citing reasons that he had personal engagements that were clashing with the meeting time. In the circumstance, Chizzy, the former President had had to step in for him, chairing the meetings and working on speeches. However, there were more sordid details on Omotayo’s misconducts.
It was revealed that Tayo was never a legitimate president of Zik L & D, because Chizzy, being the former president of the society did not officially hand over to him. While he was being considered for the position, “Tayo announced himself as the president”, he said.
AbdulKabeer, the General Secretary of the society and the newly installed interim president, speaking at the meeting, said Tayo’s decision to pull out of Jaw War was a unilateral one, and not a decision taken by the society’s executive council. He exposed that Omotayo had, without any member’s consent, sent a letter to TLDS, informing them of the Hall’s withdrawal from Jaw war. On the possibility of Zik L&D facing sanctions from TLDS for the ‘stunt’ pulled, he said the situation has been rectified.
“The point is we eventually showed up despite the president’s statement. What that means is that the society is greater than the president and as such the letter does not stand. Very soon, we will be sending out a press release to communicate the real issue to the general public. And we will equally be sending a letter of disclaimer to the TLDS Leadership” he explained.
To salvage the situation yesterday, a senior member of the L & D, Oloyede Samson (Samson Law), and the Hall’s IPM, Adeniji Uthman (Yamburger) decided to fill the gap of both the first and second speaker respectively by delivering their speeches at the semifinal round.
Speaking with Samson, he explained to us that he had been having prior discussions with Chiziterem about Tayo’s bad leadership, and were already talking about his removal as the president. About his reasons for taking of speaking at the semifinal round, he stated that the image of the Hall was at stake.
“What about Zik Hall’s image? I was trying to bring it up that we can’t let it go; something had to be done. So, I’m offering myself, that if it’s for me take this thing and go and read it, I don’t mind” he remarked. Despite efforts to rescue the situation, Zik Hall fell short to Sultan Bello at the semifinal round and failed to book a spot for themselves in the final round.
It was however noted during the emergency meeting last night that Omotayo should face more sanctions due to his impenitence. It was revealed that after the decision to pull out of Jaw War was relayed to the L&D group on Thursday night, Omotayo locked the group evidently to prevent reactions.
However, Chizzy, being an admin on the group opened the group and sent a message calling for the emergency meeting by Friday 10pm after the semifinal round yesterday. The message stated that Omotayo and all L&D members must be present. It was revealed that Omotayo immediately left the group chat. To further affirm Omotayo’s show of impunity, Chizzy made it known that Omotayo kept posting memes on his WhatsApp status caring less whose ox was gored. It was therefore suggested that further punitive measures should be taken against him.
