Crisis hits Head of Service Cooperative Society over sharing of N30m, properties

The Head of Service of the Federation Staff Cooperative Society Ltd has split into factions over the sharing and control of the remaining N30m left in the accounts, and a landed property.

IDOMA VOICE gathered that there is an internal crisis in the cooperative between one faction loyal to the former president Mr. John Chargu and the other loyal to Mr. Katsina Terfa the current president.

The cooperative had in 2015 acquired a 5.2 hectares of land located at Apo mechanic village in Abuja, during the first tenure of Mr. John Chargu as president, who was in office between February 2017 and February 2019.

It was gathered that Mr. Chargu emerged as the president of the cooperative during the election conducted on April 25, 2019 while another election supported by the management of the HOS brought in Mr. Katsina Terfa as the authentic president of the cooperative.

The membership of the cooperative has drastically reduced from 800 to less than 300 due to the crisis which broke out in 2019.

The Chargu faction had accused the management of the Head of Service of the Federation of pitching tents with the candidacy of Mr. Katsina Terfa, claiming that he was the legally elected president of the cooperative during the April 25, 2019 and has similarly ordered the office to be taken over by the group to the amazement of John Chargu-led faction.

Speaking with DailyTrust in Abuja, Mr. Chargu expressed disappointment that the management of the Head of Service has taken sides though the constitution of the cooperative does not allow such.

“Our supervisory body is the Director of Cooperative of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Administration because we registered the society with them, all cases in the cooperatives are equally settled by the FCTA.

“Also, the Abuja Cooperative Federation (ACF) is always there to supervise our elections but today, they are claiming that all Cooperatives in Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) must subject themselves to the Human Resources Department in the MDAs which totally violates our constitutions,” Chargu told DailyTrust.

He said that Mr. Terfa is being supported by the office of the Permanent Secretary, Common Services Office (CSO) in the office of the HOS as well as the HOS Deputy Director, Appointment and Career Progression, Mrs. Foluke Oni.

He accused Mr. Terfa of formenting trouble in the cooperative because of his greed and selfish interest.

He said “He (Terfa) is the trouble maker; he fell out with me because he wanted me to make him Land Committee Chairman so he would have free access to sell lands at will before he retires from Service. In the past, we always had five various committees and each time they sit, we pay each N5,000 although these are the rules in our bye-laws but for the fact that we don’t have enough money, I declined when majority of members opposed the move.

“It may surprise you that I was given a query on this matter by the HOS Deputy Director, Appointment and Career Progression, Mrs. Foluke Oni, for not accepting to handover the leadership of the cooperative to Mr. Terfa and after answering the query, I was summoned by the Senior Staff Committee as well. I was detained with three other officers for a week.”

However, in a telephone interview with DailyTrust, Mr. Katsina Terfa said that the claims of a second term tenure by Mr. John Chargu was not only fraudulent but null and void as pronounced by the Chief Registrar, Director of Cooperative even as the decision was conveyed to him by the Permanent Secretary, CSO of the HOS, Mr. Felix Danusa.

Terfa said, “The HOS management asked Mr. Chargu to vacate office and hand over peacefully to me on December 14, 2020 but he refused. The management then asked the police to forcefully open the office, the directive was carried out before I eventually gained access to the Cooperative secretariat.”