On Sunday 21st June, 2020, our Association regressed into the darkest annal of its history when
our sensibilities were assailed and our evening disturbed by the news that a Group of Dissident
Old Boys (largely of the 1978 & 1979 Class sets) led by Rev Tunde Adenekan were holding a
purported BIFOBA General meeting online via Zoom, and during which meeting the said Rev
Adenekan was being sworn in as our Association’s Global President and Adenekan himself in
turn, was swearing in Officers of his illegal and phantom Executive Council, an activity that is
clearly in breach of our Association’s Constitution, inimical to the growth and well being of
BIFOBA, BFHS and students of our School, an act viewed as a slap on the faces of our
Association’s legally elected Executive Council (NEC/Executive Council ) and a complete
affront to the generality of our Old Boys globally.

Trustees have received officially, a NOTICE of the sad insurrection from Executive Council and
have noted the various Letters of Disclaimers issued by various Groups within the Association
while also acknowledging members’(both in Nigeria and in Diaspora) indignant outcries that this
insurrection be stopped immediately, condemned in the strongest possible terms and further,
that the Old Boys involved in this nefarious act be subjected to strict disciplinary measures to
stop once and for all these continuous blackmail and holding of all of BIFOBA to ransom by
these ill-informed and misguided Old Boys, so as to act as a deterrent to future would-be
troublemakers and finally, restore sanity to the Activities of our Association.

Trustees wish to assure all Old Boys that we understand your indignation at the turn of Events
in the last few days and share your sentiments as even Trustees ourselves were not spared the
effects of the nefarious acts of the bunch of Renegade Old Boys as we have actually been sued
(as Trustees) for whatever grouse the Group has with members of NEC and the Association in
general.

This Group of misguided Old Boys had confronted the Trustees in the recent past and have on
occasions, questioned the Trustees’ authority to protect the Association for which we have
legally been put in custody, in one instance, through the Law suit mentioned above (Trustees of
an Association are the only people recognized by law to be sued on behalf of their Association)
REGISTERED TRUSTEES, which efforts by various peace loving Group of Old Boys who had intervened and persuaded
them to withdraw had fallen on deaf ears.

Another instance was their querying of Trustees’ powers to extend the tenor of the current
Executive Council , a power that is well within the rights of the Trustees to do, given their
position as Custodians of the Association for which they have responsibility and for which
Association, they are actually being sued.

All of the above are aside of and different from other grave and serious infractions against the
“soul” of our Association and the desecration of our Constitution committed by these Dissident
Group, some of which excesses and misconducts are recalled below:-

1. The April 2019, boycott of our Association’s Homecoming Event and organization of the
Group’s own parallel Homecoming on the same day, at the same time in a different venue,
(all because Adenekan and another Old boy of the 1979 Set were deemed NOT qualified for
Awards that year).The boycott, a serious offense that should have attracted immediate
sanctions (including suspension of all involved )was downplayed by GP Essien who forgave
and accepted the Group back.

2. The premeditated vote buying during the Association’s November 2019 elections
to forcibly change Executive Council because of (1) above which produced Rev Adenekan
as VICE PRESIDENT (VP)2, and his consuming greed to contest the position of Global
President that same evening despite not being qualified by the provision of the Constitution
which caused chaos that evening. Trustees position/action that evening is known to all and
has put Adenekan and his Group on a planned vendetta course with Executive Council and
by extension, the Trustees.

3. The persistent and unrelenting harassment of GP Essien and his Executive Council over
the dissolution of the Electoral Committee(EC), a temporary Committee caused to be
formed by the GP and which like every other temporary Committee, can be dissolved by the
GP especially following outcry by members that the EC has been compromised by the Rev
Adenekan Group.

4. The planned and successfully implemented boycott of the School’s’ 60th Founders’ Day
activities by the Group, another action that should have attracted serious sanctions but
which the GP again glossed over.

5. The call for and conduct of an illegal BIFOBA General meeting (not called by GP Essien or
any of his Representatives) in violation of the Provisions of our Constitution.

6. The failure by Gbemi Soyinka and the Group to withdraw the Legal Suit from Court as was
advised by the Honorable Minister Babatunde Fashola(SAN) and as was agreed at the Prof
Wake Oke led Guild of Awardees Peace meeting of 5th March 2020.

7. The several and continued libelous accusations of and labeling of the GP and Executive
Council as corrupt, non accountable for the Association’s finances and non observance of
REGISTERED TRUSTEES the rule of law, despite Executive Council ’s publication of the Association’s Accounts up
till date.

8. The causing of disenchantment of Old Boys on all of the Association’s Platforms on a
regular basis and failing to keep to the Terms of use of the Platforms while spreading
falsehoods that were creating bad blood within the Association.

9. The creation/setting up of a parallel “BIFOBA Global” Platform (in competition with the
authentic BIFOBA Global Platform) after some members of the Group were removed from
the Authentic Platforms for causing disenfranchisement as stated in (8) above.

10. The sharp contention of and confrontation of Trustees’ powers to extend the tenor of the
current Executive Council to avoid a vacuum, an exercise well within the powers of
Trustees as the Association’s custodians so to do.

11. The illegal declaration by Rev Adenekan at 12 midnight of 30th April and congratulating
him by members of the Dissenting Group while issuing a Statement posted on all the
Association’s Platforms, again an illegal declaration which heightened tension all over the
Association.

12. The writing of and submission of a Petition by the Group, (championed by one Adefolaju
Oloko) to the Association’s bankers to freeze the Association’s Accounts and not to process
any financial instruments signed by the Association’s signatories which act caused a
disruption in the Association’s activities.

13. The flagrant post by Gbemi Soyinka a couple of days ago boasting that he will not withdraw
the suit from court and that the Trustees had better attend Court on 6th July to defend the
law suit supposed to have been withdrawn by Soyinka but which the Group stubbornly
failed to do.

Fellow Old Boys, it is clear from all of the above that this band of Renegade Old Boys have
carried their excesses much too far, wrecked so much havoc within the Association and
done everything possible to destroy our common heritage unless the Association bends to their
demands.

Old Boys as it were, have gotten to a point where they can no longer succumb to the stranglehold on the Association by this Group of uninformed Old Boys who unfortunately have contributed very little or nothing individually to the development of the Association.

The proclamation (on Sunday 21st June) of Adenekan and his Team of Renegades as the Global
President and Executive Council of our Association respectively has carried their insurrection to
an unacceptable level that the Association can no longer bear.

Fellow Old Boys, Trustees have heard your call and do agree and accept that Enough of all of
these inanities is enough. BIFOBA will no longer continue to live under the stranglehold of
some misguided few Old Boys.

In view of all of the above therefore, Trustees have met and have resolved to issue this
Disclaimer to all & sundry and To whomsoever this may concern that the Trustees of this great
Association and the various sub Groups in the Association viz:- the Executive Council, the
Guild of Awardees, the Association’s Chapters (NA and UK) respectively, Class Sets etc.
completely dissociate themselves and the Association from this Group of Old Boys
impersonating our duly elected Executive Council and attempting to form a parallel Association.

Trustees condemn this illegality in it’s entirety and refuse to recognize the illegal Executive
Council and its bunch of misguided Old Boys so as to serve as a deterrent to would-be future
mischief makers and others who share their philosophy of “if you cause enough trouble in the
Association, you will get what you want”.This Disclaimer and the recommended sanctions will
send very clearly, the Trustees’ and indeed the entire Association’s position on this type of
reprehensible behavior on the part of any group of Old Boys who may want to hold the
Association to ransom.

As a first step towards emasculating the illegal Group, Trustees state as follows:

(1) As Trustees to the Association and in whose custody the Association’s Certificate of
Registration and Seal respectively are, the illegal Group will NOT be able to open or operate a
Bank Account under the name of BIFOBA anywhere in Nigeria.

(2) The BIFOBA Brand is a franchise held under the custody of the Trustees and Trustees will
NOT grant the illegal Group the Franchise to use the name BIFOBA.

(3) Trustees have given its consent to NEC to sought for and engage on its behalf, a firm of
Solicitors to represent the Trustees and the Association in the Suit filed at the Federal High
Court by Gbemi Soyinka to a logical conclusion and pronunciation to be made by the Courts at
all levels.

(4) Trustees further recommends to NEC as follows:-

a) That a completely fresh and new Elections (devoid of any of the existing concessions
be held and conducted strictly in line with the Terms and Conditions of the current
Constitution.

b)For the new Election, the position of VP2 earlier reserved for Rev Adenekan be
revoked and declared open since he has resigned from that position on 2 different
occasions.

c) The Insignia (Medalion) of Office of the Association’s Global Presidency currently
in custody of and in use by the current and authentic Global President, Barr Kingsley
Essien be maintained by him.

d)That the Global President’s Bell representing the “authority” given by the
Association to convene and declare a BIFOBA General Meeting open and/or closed
be retained with and remain in use by the authentic and elected Global President,
Barr Kingsley Essien.

e) That NEC takes immediate steps to identify members of the illegal Executive
Council , Mr Tunde Adenekan and his Team, together with other members of the
Dissident Group and their Chieftains and subject them to Discplinary action in the
form of an immediate indefinite suspension from the Association and all of its social
communication media as a first step and thereafter, summoned to face a Disciplinary
Committee to be set up by the Association in line with the Constitution to serve as
deterrent to other would-be mischief makers.

(5) Trustees recommend to the Guild as done in(4)(e)above, per chance that there are any of its
members also involved in the insurrection and subject them to a Guild appointed Disciplinary
Committee. Trustees make the above Recommendations with the full knowledge and resolve
that the Association for whom it is responsible will NOT be fractionalized by any Group of Old
Boys under whatever guise and that sanity must be brought back to the Association.

Trustees also wish to assure all and sundry very clearly that the several Peace overtures made to
the Renegade Old Boys which were rebuffed were not signs of weakness but attempts to bring
all Old Boys to the same fold. However, when such overtures were continuously turned down,
Trustees must take adequate actions as needed to deal with any unwanted and growing cancer
before it spreads any further and destroy the Association that all of us have worked hard to bring
to the enviable level it is today.

Trustees wish to thank all Peace loving Old Boys of our Association for their patience which we
recognize have been tested beyond critical points by the excesses of these Renegade Group and
do assure Old Boys that all necessary steps needed for the peaceful and quiet association of Old
Boys under BIFOBA to the good of our Association and benefit of the School and students will
continue to be protected and guaranteed.

Trustees assure that this dark period in the history of our Association has now been eliminated
and such insurrection will NEVER be allowed to take root in this Association ever again.

We thank you all for your enduring patience.

Yours faithfully on behalf of the Trustees.

Attached – BIFOBA Trustees Disclaimer : LETTER of DISCLAIMER

Mr. FRANCIS VAN-LARE