Follow Us on Google
By Sunday Ani
Board of Trustees (BoT) of Brothers Across Nigeria (BAN), also known as the Buccaneers Confraternity, has declared its intention to intensify its fight against alleged corruption within the organisation.
Addressing journalists, the BoT chairman and former Global President, Moshood Adeyemi, said the fraternity was founded to combat societal ills, including corruption, and therefore, could not tolerate such practices within its own ranks.
“Unfortunately, due to the irresponsible behaviour of some individuals, which in the spirit of Brother Deliver Brother, we regrettably overlooked, the Association has lacked constitutional or legal leadership for some time. Instead, it has been under what you may call a transitional leadership, consisting of the trustees and the signatories to the account.
However, this arrangement has failed. The signatories are fighting tooth and nail to prevent us, the BOT, from carrying out our constitutional role of entrenching fiscal discipline,” Adeyemi alleged. “How can un-elected, transitional leaders in a responsible organisation spend over ₦600 million of members’ dues without appropriation, financial reporting or the any audit?”
According to Adeyemi, the BOT has made repeated attempts to compel the signatories to open the books and comply with the organisation’s financial rules. He claimed that when the efforts failed, the BOT resolved to escalate the matter to relevant financial investigative authorities.
BAN, which is legally registered as an incorporated trustee, maintains internal governance structures that include oversight by elders. Adeyemi stressed that the BOT would not fold its arms, while what he described as looting of the confraternity’s commonwealth continued.
Confirming reports that the BOT had placed a lien on the confraternity’s bank accounts, he said: “It is not a lien per se. We simply changed the signatories and notified the banks. After all attempts to get the account changed from the signatories failed, we had no choice but to take necessary steps.
“Those removed signatories are allegedly working with the staff of Association’s banks to obstruct the release of account statements which will tell the whole truth about the way our finances have been managed. They have also been using a limited liability company to divert the association’s funds.”
He added that legal action had already been initiated and expressed confidence that the truth would emerge through proper investigation.
“The financial statements will be thoroughly examined. All legal options remain open to stop the ongoing financial misconduct and protect the integrity of the brotherhood.
“It is a joke that some persons have been removed and others expelled by the Association.
Nobody has the authority or the constitutional bases to do such things. They are null and void. Please, ignore such desperate rascality from drowning men. They are desperate to cover up their thefts and financial mismanagement. As such, they resort to using cheap internet publications to spread falsehood. We are pushing ahead tenaciously to save our Association and its funds and to expose criminals and criminality to the relevant authorities and professional or regulatory authorities,” Adeyemi stated.
