The Civil Societies Coalition for the Emancipation of Osun State (CSCEOS) has petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over alleged diversion of the N.399 million by the Mr. Cosmos Olalekan Oni, the B-Zone Vice-President of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).

The group, equally, called for the immediate investigation and possible prosecution of the NUJ Chief.

The group insisted that Mr. Cosmos Oni should be investigated by the National Secretariat of the Union for his role in the illegal and undemocratic nullification of the Council election held on February 9th, 2016, alleging that Mr. Oni perpetrated the evil of nullifying the election in order to cover his evil deed of diverting the Union funds to his private use.

The group releasing part of the petition in a statement issued by its Chairman, Comrade Adeniyi Alimi Sulaiman after submitting the petition to the Office of the Acting Executive Chairman of the EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Magun in Abuja on Tuesday, stressed that “It is our responsibility as a stakeholder in Nigeria projects, especially, in the area of serious fight against menace of corruption in our land, to draw the attention and refer the Acting Chairman to the act of corrupt practices being perpetrated by the few individuals, including; Mr. Cosmos Oni in their own little position of authority.

“The Acting Chairman of the Commission (EFCC) would recall that the Osun State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) recently conducted the Union election to elect the new officers that would pilot the affairs of the Union in the State for the next three (3) years where the annual due of the members of the Union in the State to the tune of #599,000 were paid into the Private Bank Account of the B-zone Vice-President of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Mr. Cosmos Olalekan Oni of Oyo State Ministry of Information, Ibadan, with phone number:- 08034038276 for onward transfer to National Secretariat of the Union.”

The petition Letter further reads thus; “Sir, it will interest you to hear that the annual due and Identity card fund in question was paid by the Electoral Committee (NUJECO) Chairman, Mr. Michael Olanrewaju of Newswatch Newspapers with phone No:- 08037115534 to the Mr. Cosmos Olalekan Oni’s account number in the Access Bank before the February 9th, 2016 Council election in the State. The detail of the Bank Account where the transaction was made to Mr. Oni’s private account as he wanted. The Bank details are; Bank Name: Access Bank, Account Name: Cosmos Olalekan Oni, Account Number: 0036079445.The Bank Teller dated February 3rd of March, 2016 is hereby attached as Annexture (1)

“As interested party in Osun State project which observed the NUJ election in the State which election was conducted in a free, fair, transparency and credible manner, but to our surprise, Mr. Cosmos Olalekan Oni who led the 3-man delegation from the National Secretariat of the Union from Abuja to supervise the election which they unanimously gave the clean bill of free, fair and

credible conduct to the election and the losers in the election had also congratulated winners, secretly wrote the Petition Letter to the National Secretariat of the NUJ in Abuja, requesting for the nullification of the election which the national leadership of the union acceded to.”

It added that “while our organisation that is committed to the promotion of good governance and fighting of corruption and various ills confronting our Nation, conducted private investigation into the whole scenario on the subject matter where we discovered the rationale behind the action of Mr. Cosmos Olalekan Oni to ensure that the election was nullified at all cost and as well created man-made crisis for the Union, was as a result of his plan to cover up Oni’s fraud of paying N.2 million into the National Secretariat of the Union, instead of N.599 million paying into his account by the NUJECO’s chairman, Mr. Michael Olanrewaju, for onward transferred to the NUJ’s National Secretariat.

“We also learnt that the initial agreement with the NUJECO was that N81,000 would be used for the conduct of the election out of N.688 million realised from the members in the State before the conduct of the election. But, the National President of the Union, Mr. Waheed Odusile with Phone No:- 08033029086, later confronted the electoral committee with the balance of the money realised which Mr. Cosmos Olalekan Oni has illegally converted to his personal resources.”

•Photo shows Comrade Adeniyi.

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