Gabriel Dike
The decision of the Principal, Queen’s College, Yaba, Lagos, Dr Tokunbo Yakubu-Oyinloye, to convene a general meeting of the Parents Teachers Association (PTA) on Sunday has pitched her against current PTA chairman, Dr John Ofobike.
It was gathered that the school principal had to summon a general meeting of the PTA on Sunday but the outgoing PTA chairman, Dr Ofobike, kicked against her action, insisting she does not have the right to do so.
As the face-off raged on, the immediate past PTA chairman, Mrs Beatrice Akhetuamen, backed the principal, stating that the tenure of Dr Ofobike failed to call for an Annual General Meeting (AGM), thus his tenure had ended.
In a circular to parents, Dr Ofobike said the current PTA executive council was not aware of the purported general meeting and that the principal failed to respond to his letter dated September 23 suggesting October 5 for the AGM.
He alleged that the principal and her supporters unilaterally convened a meeting to hold four days after the expiration of the current PTA exco, an action Ofobike insisted was meant to humiliate the exco without following due process.
In his words: “I don’t have the interest to stay a day longer than necessary in office, but will strongly resist every attempt to stampede me out of office by the principal of QC and her cohorts.”
In a swift reaction, the former PTA chairman, Mrs Akhetuamen faulted Ofobike’s position, insisting the tenure of his exco ended on October 16.
She also disclosed that the principal has the right to convene the general meeting “as long as there is no PTA exco on ground, in order for her to be able put in caretaker committee on ground pending the time an electoral body is set up by the general House.
“Parents are actually not comfortable with the present situation. PTA is in place to complement the effort of the college management and not to make it difficult for it to achieve set goals. The principal represents the Federal Ministry of Education who runs the Unity Colleges and cannot be subject to the authority of the PTA,” she remarked.