When Integrity Shapes a Nation: From Hidden Clauses to the Alakija Hospital at UNIOSUN

Nigeria’s development story is often told through policies. However, the harder truth is this: people, not policies, determine outcomes. When character fails, even good reforms collapse. When integrity holds, institutions grow.

This reality has become clearer following two seemingly unrelated events. One involves disputed changes to Nigeria’s tax laws. The other is the commissioning of a major teaching hospital in Osun State. Together, they tell a deeper story about trust, power, and individual responsibility.

The Tax Law Controversy: When Process Breaks Trust

In late 2025, Nigeria’s tax reform debate took a troubling turn. Members of the National Assembly publicly stated that the version of the tax laws gazetted and released differed from what they voted for.

This was not a minor clerical issue. However, the differences were substantial.

According to lawmakers, the gazetted version introduced:

  • Expanded arrest powers through law enforcement
  • Garnishee powers without prior court orders
  • Lower financial reporting thresholds
  • A mandatory 20% deposit before tax appeals
  • Reduced National Assembly oversight

This situation echoes earlier concerns raised in public discourse about Dr. Raheem Oluwafunminiyi, a former NEC member of the UNIOSUN Alumni Association. In a previous investigation, his name was linked to allegations of quietly inserting a constitutional clause during a review process, one that altered the balance of power between the NEC and the Board of Trustees.

The parallel is uncomfortable but necessary. In both cases, the issue is not reform itself. Instead, it is the character of individuals operating inside critical processes.

Why Character Matters More Than Credentials

Nigeria’s academic, political, and civic spaces are not immune to internal politics. Whispers of backroom deals, covered-up misconduct, and quietly managed scandals are common.

Therefore, when individuals with unresolved integrity questions in one arena later enjoy smooth, controversy-free progress in another, people ask valid questions. Did advancement occur in a transparent system? Or was it facilitated by protective networks?

These are not accusations. Rather, they are logical questions. In governance and academia alike, integrity must be consistent, not selective.

A Sharp Contrast: The Alakija Hospital at UNIOSUN

Against this backdrop of contested processes stands a contrasting story.

In December 2025, the Modupe and Folorunso Alakija Medical Research and Training Hospital was officially handed over to Osun State University (UNIOSUN). The ₦34 billion, 250-bed facility was donated by Folorunso Alakija and Modupe Alakija.

Commissioned by Yemi Osinbajo, the hospital is designed to:

  • Reduce Nigeria’s dependence on medical tourism
  • Train medical students and specialists locally
  • Strengthen research and advanced diagnostics
  • Support long-term healthcare capacity at Osun State University

Unlike contested policies, this project followed a clear arc. There was vision, funding, construction, and transparent handover. Consequently, public confidence and admiration follows naturally without need for stretched and twisted narratives.

The Difference Is the Individual

Both stories involve institutions. However, only one inspires confidence.

The tax law controversy shows how opaque actions by a few individuals can destabilize entire systems. In contrast, the Alakija Hospital demonstrates how clear intent and accountable execution by individuals can strengthen public institutions.

Therefore, Nigeria’s challenge is not a lack of ideas. It is not even a lack of money. Rather, it is the repeated failure to place people of unquestionable character at the center of sensitive processes.

The Bigger Lesson for Nigeria

Reforms are necessary. Investment is critical. Infrastructure matters. However, none of these survive without trust.

Trust is built when:

  • Laws passed are the same laws enforced
  • Reviews are transparent, not convenient
  • Power is exercised openly, not quietly expanded
  • Contributions to public good are documented and accountable

When integrity collapses, the poor suffer first. When trust disappears, capital leaves. When character is weak, institutions decay.

What This Means for the UNIOSUN Alumni Association

For the Osun State University Alumni Association, these developments are not peripheral issues. They go to the very core of what an alumni body represents: stewardship, credibility, and institutional memory.

Alumni associations are more than social networks or fundraising platforms. They are guardians of legacy. Therefore, when questions of integrity arise around constitutional processes, leadership conduct, or the quiet alteration of foundational documents, the impact is profound. It shapes how members engage, how donors commit, and how the wider public perceives the institution the alumni claim to serve.

The contrast is instructive. On one hand, the Alakija Hospital demonstrates what clarity of purpose and transparent execution can achieve when individuals act in good faith. On the other hand, unresolved concerns within alumni governance highlight how character failures at the association level can erode trust faster than any external attack.

Silence, selective storytelling, or celebratory profiles that omit uncomfortable episodes do not strengthen an association. Instead, they deepen suspicion. Alumni bodies thrive on openness, debate, and accountability—not managed narratives.

At this moment, the UNIOSUN Alumni Association faces a defining choice. It can either confront its past honestly, clarify disputed actions, and rebuild trust across its membership. Or it can allow unresolved questions to harden into permanent fractures.

Ultimately, the strength of an alumni association is not measured by how loudly it celebrates its leaders, but by how transparently it examines its own conduct. Trust, once lost, is difficult to recover. However, when rebuilt deliberately, it becomes the strongest foundation any institution can have.

Final Thought


In similar light, Nigeria does not just need better policies. Nigeria needs better custodians of power.

The difference between hidden clauses and healing hospitals is not complexity. It is character.

And until integrity becomes non-negotiable, development will remain fragile—no matter how ambitious the reform.

Image launderers: The antics and PR Agency Run by the PRO of Osun State University Alumni Association ,Fayelimu Oluwasegun

The Osun State University Alumni Association led by Comr. AbdulBasit Olalekan Olokuta has perfected an art — the art of celebrating people in a bid to repackage and rebrand them. The latest examples out of several others are Dr. Raheem Oluwafunminiyi and Dr. Bibitayo Ayobami Owolabi, two academics whose citations were strenuously polished yet cast long shadows in the collective memory of the alumni community.

Both men are unquestionably educated. Both have academic credentials that are expected at a glance. But when the association praises them as “exemplary alumni,” it conveniently deletes the parts of their history that raise serious, unresolved questions.

Questions not invented by enemies.
Questions not whispered in corners.
Questions documented in the very reconciliation-platform chats the alumni leadership themselves participated in.

THE MONEY QUESTION NO ONE WANTS TO TALK ABOUT

One of the clearest examples appeared openly in the reconciliation chat:
₦1.3 million transferred to Owolabi Bibitayo’s personal account in 2018 without approval.

Members described it plainly —

“Money that was not approved.”
“Funds that should never have been in a personal account.”

This single incident sparked debates about financial misconduct and set in motion the mistrust that would later explode into a full-blown crisis.

Yet today, the Olokuta-led alumni association pretends this never happened.
No mention.
No accountability.
No explanation.

Instead, the same person linked to that period is now presented as a symbol of excellence.

THE ROLE THEY PLAYED IN THE CRISIS IS NOT A SECRET

These were not passive observers.Dr. Raheem Olufunminiyi on the other hand was fingered in tampering with the Constitution he was meant to review alongside a committee. As a member of NEC at the time (2018) he had faced checks and balances from the BOT in the budget requests he made for his office as PRO, and so he single-handedly inserted a clause in the constitution to give the NEC powers to remove the BOT. A chat reproduced below involving a member of the constitution review committee (CRC) Dr. Raheem led corroborates the events.


These actions not only shows the length he would go when desperate, it marks signs of dishonesty and someone not to be trusted with certain responsibilities. These were not innocent bystanders.
Their names show up in virtually every critical phase of the alumni conflict:

  • caretaker leadership tussles
  • factional alignments
  • arguments over legitimacy
  • disputes over financial transparency
  • endless battles that dragged the alumni union into chaos

They were right there — in the thick of it — shaping narratives, influencing factions, and contributing to the tension that the association is still trying to recover from.

But in their celebratory profiles?
Silence.
Complete silence.

THE BIGGER QUESTION: IF INTEGRITY IS UNCLEAR IN ONE AREA, WHAT ABOUT OTHER AREAS?

Nigeria’s academic environment is not immune to internal politics. We all know this.
Whispers of:

  • backroom deals
  • covered-up misconduct
  • quietly buried disciplinary cases
  • preferential promotions
  • committees that “manage” embarrassing issues
  • networks that protect their own
  • sex for grades scandals

…are part of the unfortunate reality of many tertiary institutions.

So when someone who had integrity questions in public service suddenly enjoys smooth, controversy-free academic progression, people naturally ask:

Did their academic rise happen in an environment where integrity is transparent — or in a system where things can be quietly arranged. A logical question.

Because if you can be linked to financial impropriety in one role, why should the public not wonder if the same behaviours or networks protected you in another?

SCHOLARSHIP WITHOUT INTEGRITY IS NOT EXCELLENCE — IT IS JUST PACKAGING

Academic achievement should rest on character, credibility, and ethics.
But the association now celebrates people as if:

  • character doesn’t matter
  • leadership history is irrelevant
  • unresolved controversies are disposable
  • the community has forgotten everything

This is not honour.
This is image laundering.

And it insults those who have served with transparency, humility, and genuine integrity.It also speaks of the kind of leadership being promoted by Comr. AbdulBasit Olalekan Olokuta, A NEC celebrating such characters as people of excellence or worthy of emulation is likely made up of individuals who need their images laundered as well.

THE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION CANNOT EDIT HISTORY BECAUSE OF POLITICS

By elevating individuals with well-documented controversies while refusing to acknowledge the past, the association endangers its own credibility.

It tells the world:

  • integrity is optional
  • memory is negotiable
  • narrative is more important than truth.

But the history is being documented and will not be forgotten.
The documents exist.
The conversations are recorded.
The facts are not erasable.

THE FUTURE OF UNIOSUN ALUMNI DEPENDS ON HONESTY, NOT HYPOCRISY

If the alumni association truly wants to rebuild trust, it must stop acting like a PR agency and start acting like a responsible institution.

This means:

  • acknowledging the full stories of those it celebrates
  • demanding accountability from those with unresolved histories
  • refusing to reward people whose actions once weakened the community
  • restoring standards, not lowering them because someone was a sheep in your slaughter house.

Until then, every flyer, every award, and every glowing profile will ring hollow.

Because excellence without integrity is not excellence.
It is an illusion.

Follow-Up: Silence or Settlement behind the Scenes at the Osun State University Alumni Association

Less than a year after Engineer Oyekemi publicly petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) against the Board of Trustees (BOT) and National Executive Council (NEC) of the alumni body of Osun State University (UNIOSUN) over alleged fund-mismanagement, the once-explosive story appears to have vanished from public view.

Despite the initial media coverage pointing to an investigation that “is not looking good” for the accused parties, no further updates have emerged. Key questions remain unanswered:

  • Did the EFCC ever formally open a case following-up on the petition?
  • If the investigation proceeded, why has no public report or statement been released?
  • And perhaps most striking: why has Engineer Oyekemi, the complainant, not provided any follow-up commentary?

Speculation within alumni circles suggests one of two possibilities: either the dispute was settled quietly and kept out of the public domain, or the complainant’s voice has been muted by indirect pressure. Either way, the absence of closure does little to restore credibility to an organisation already tainted by allegations.

For an association built on the trust of former students and stakeholders, the risk of reputational damage remains high. Transparency is now more critical than ever. At the very least, stakeholders deserve a public statement confirming whether the matter is alive, resolved or simply shelved.

Until such clarity is provided, the story will linger in limbo — raising more questions about governance, accountability and alumni-fund stewardship than it ever answered.

UNIOSUN in Mourning: Five Students Lost in Tragic Road Accident, University Shuts Down

The Osun State University (UNIOSUN) community is reeling from a devastating road accident that claimed the lives of five students on Sunday, plunging the institution into grief and prompting a temporary closure. The fatal crash occurred near the Balogun Area, close to Unity School in Ikire, along the Osogbo-Ikire route. It involved a catastrophic head-on collision between a luxury bus traveling from Ibadan and an 18-seater passenger bus heading from Osogbo. The impact was so severe that it left several passengers, including the five UNIOSUN students, trapped in the wreckage, with little chance of survival.

According to Ademola Adesoji, the university’s Public Relations Officer, the students were returning home after completing their examinations when tragedy struck. “This is an incredibly painful moment for the UNIOSUN family,” he said in a heartfelt statement. “We mourn the loss of these bright young minds, but we find some solace in knowing that one survivor, a 200-level Medicine and Surgery student, is receiving medical care.” The Nigeria Police and the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) have confirmed the incident, attributing the high casualty count to the force of the collision. Investigations are ongoing to determine the precise cause, but the loss has already left an indelible mark on the university community.

According to available reports, the names of the five Osun State University (UNIOSUN) students who tragically lost their lives in the road accident on Sunday, March 23, 2025, are as follows:

  1. Olagbemide Dotun, a 200-level student of Software Engineering
  2. Suleiman Farouq Adedayo, a 400-level student of Law
  3. Ogundare Pelumi, a 300-level student of Public Health
  4. Ogundare Elijah, a 100-level student of Mechanical Engineering
  5. Olawuyi Mary, a 200-level student of Nursing

These names were confirmed by Ademola Adesoji, the university’s Public Relations Officer, in statements released by the institution. The UNIOSUN community continues to mourn their loss, and our thoughts remain with their families and loved ones during this difficult time.

In the wake of the accident, UNIOSUN management made the difficult decision to suspend academic and administrative activities temporarily. The closure reflects the profound sorrow and unrest among students and staff as they grapple with the sudden departure of their peers. The university has rallied to support the families of the deceased, offering condolences and assistance during this dark time. Meanwhile, the survivor’s recovery remains a focal point of hope amidst the tragedy.

The UNIOSUN Updates team joins the community in mourning these irreplaceable losses. We urge students, staff, and readers to keep the victims, their families, and the survivor in their thoughts and prayers. As the university navigates this period of grief, we will continue to provide updates on the investigation and the resumption of campus activities. For now, the focus remains on healing and honoring the memory of those we have lost.

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