OSPOLY SRC Suspends Students’ Union Week, Rejects Unapproved Date Over Constitutional Due Process

The Students’ Representative Council (SRC) of Osun State Polytechnic, Iree, has suspended activities relating to the proposed Students’ Union Government (SUG) Week, declaring that the previously circulated date for the programme has not received the constitutionally required approval of the Council. 

In an official constitutional notice issued to the student populace, faculties, departments, union organs, committees and other stakeholders, the SRC stated that the purported date cannot be recognised as an officially sanctioned date of the Students’ Union Government without the completion of the required legislative process.

According to the notice, the decision followed the Council’s observation of the circumstances surrounding the proposed date earlier circulated for the Students’ Union Week. The SRC maintained that there had been no formal legislative consideration, deliberation, ratification or approval of the date by the Council. It consequently directed members of the Polytechnic community to disregard the previously announced date, stressing that no organ or officer of the Students’ Union Government could legitimately present it as an approved date in the absence of the required constitutional procedure.

The SRC anchored its position on the Students’ Union Constitution, describing the document as the supreme governing instrument of the Students’ Union Government. It specifically cited Article II, Section 4, which provides that the SRC shall be the supreme policy-making body of the Union and may review, ratify or reject decisions of the Students’ Union Executive. The Council argued that the provision gives it a clear legislative oversight responsibility over major programmes, policies and decisions affecting the general administration and welfare of students.

The Council also relied on Article IV, Section 7 of the Constitution, which establishes the Students’ Union Week Committee and provides that the committee shall comprise the Vice President as Chairman and six other members approved by the SRC. The committee is constitutionally responsible for planning Students’ Union Week activities. The SRC therefore stressed that the programme cannot validly be conducted outside the framework prescribed by the Constitution, insisting that the committee must first be duly constituted and its membership subjected to the required legislative approval.

In outlining what it described as the absence of legislative approval, the SRC stated that no formal motion approving the proposed Students’ Union Week date had been duly presented before the Council, no substantive deliberation had been concluded, and no ratification or constitutional approval had been granted. It further stated that no Students’ Union organ, officer, committee, faculty, department or individual acting under the authority of the SUG should treat the previously circulated date as official. The Council emphasised that administrative convenience, urgency, prior announcements or unilateral decisions cannot substitute for procedures expressly required by the Union’s Constitution.

The SRC, however, clarified that its decision should not be interpreted as a cancellation of Students’ Union Week. Rather, the programme has been suspended pending compliance with the constitutional provisions and completion of the necessary legislative procedures. The Council directed that no SUG activity, programme, event or official engagement relating to Students’ Union Week should be conducted on the basis of the previously circulated date. It further called for the Students’ Union Week Committee to be properly constituted, followed by the necessary legislative consideration and approval of a new official date before it is communicated to the student body.

The notice concluded with the SRC reaffirming its commitment to constitutionalism, the rule of law, due process, legislative oversight, accountability and transparency. The Council declared that there would be no official SUG Week activities until the constitutionally required process had been completed and an official date duly approved and communicated through the appropriate channels.