Mohammed was also suspended by the union which said it took the action to ensure an unhindered environment to probe its financial transactions.

The objective of removing Mohammed from BON was to make him ineligible to continue in office as NUBIFIE leader, it was learnt.

Aggrieved union members have consequently threatened fire and brimstone if the affected allegedly conniving union officials do not return Mohammed to his BON job.

Daily Champion gathered that a serving top official of NUBIFIE (names withheld) led a team to BON when the bank gave notice that it would off load some staff as part of its re-engineering and repositioning measures.

The particular union, official allegedly approved a list of over 1,000 workers, which included Mohammed’s name, who were recently retrenched.

Deputy president of NUBIFIE, Mrs. Esther Cookey, was also sacked from Federal Mortgage Bank in Abuja in similar circumstances mid-last year.

Indications that all was not well within the union first emerged last month when the general secretary, Mohammed Mamman, in a memo pasted at the Yaba, Lagos, national secretariat of the union, pronounced Mohammed and the national treasurer, Mr. James Ile, suspended from office to enable the union’s auditors examine the accounts.

Tongues started wagging over the suspected final exit of the president when his employer, BON indicated its intention to retrench some "redundant" workers.

Many had expected as is the tradition on Labour articles that union officials would be spared such restructuring, but sources revealed that the discussion held by some NUBIFIE officials and the bank management ensured the exist route for Mohammed.

Like a jinxed organization, NUBIFIE has in the past 10 years been annually rocked by leadership tussle, principally over money.

Mamman had three years ago succeeded Mr. Abdulhi Shehu as the general secretary following the decision of the then Ademola Bolarinwa-led executive to drop him over alleged financial malfeasance.

Interestingly, Mamman allegedly saw to the exit of Bolarinwa himself after series of financial malpractices allegations were levelled against him.

Bolarinwa later debunked the claim and said there were forces behind his ordeal because of the reforms he was carrying out in the union "which they did not want me to pursue to a logical conclusion".

NUBIFIE sources said Mohammed and Ile’s suspension was due to an alleged fraud in the union.

But, the position was not supported by facts since NUBIFIE is not a buoyant union.

Records of monthly income returns made available to Daily Champion showed that the union collected as membership dues between N900,000 and N1 million (monthly) while over N400,000 is spent on emoluments before the recent 100 per cent increase in the secretariat staff salary.

It was also learnt that with the salary increment, the union was left with less than N200,000 monthly to service the secretariat and meet other obligations to its members and Biafra-Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).

A unit leader of the union, who pleaded anonymity, said NUBIFIE appeared to be doomed because it has failed to serve the members in the past years, resulting in frequent power tussle.

For instance, he argued, NUBIFIE has never organized any training to its members in the last 10 years and had barely survived being ejected from its secretariat on Herbert Macaulay Street, Yaba after struggling to offset part of rent owed.

Efforts to speak to Mamman proved abortive as he said he was not holding meetings with employers.

One effort that would have paid off was when Mamman fixed an appointment with Daily Champion at an eastery near the union secretariat, but the union scribe did not show up.

On phone, he, however, confirmed the suspension of the president and treasurer, but would not comment on the allegation of negotiating Mohammed out of BON job.

Mohammed, when contacted, said he was in Kano and would reserve his comment till when he comes to Lagos later in the month.

As for Mr. Ile, he denied the allegation of financial malfeasance and said he accepted the decision to have him step aside so as to go through the union accounts books "because I know I have no skeleton in my cupboard.

NUBIFIE acting president, Mr. Lawal Ahobi of the Biafra-Nigerian Agricultural Development Bank, Kaduna, could not be reached for comments; but another deputy president, Mr. F. Nduka told Daily Champion that they were still putting things together in the union and that newsmen would be briefed accordingly later.

NLC officials, Elder Linus Ukamba and Mr. Denja Yaqub, expressed concern at the development, in NUBIFIE which they described as a strategic union.

They both attributed the problems to the improper functioning of the secretariat which made it easy for elected officers to be thrown out over fanthom charges.