the oko progressive union u.s.A. constitution 


The Oko Progressive Union, U.S.A also known as “OPU-U.S.A” is a nonprofit organization duly existing under the laws of the United States of America and of its several states.

PREAMBLE
We the Oko citizens in the United States of America, in order to promote the general welfare of all Oko citizens both in Nigeria and our host country, U.S.A, do hereby organize ourselves as Oko Progressive Union, U.S.A. (a.k.a. “OPU-USA.”). To live in harmony with all people, and having resolved to uphold and maintain the spirit of oneness, DO HEREBY MAKE, ORDAIN AND GIVE to ourselves the following constitution:


ARTICLE 1
Section 1: NAME
This constitution shall be known, as well as called and cited as “The Oko Progressive Union, U.S.A. Constitution” (OPU-USA).

Section 2: MEMBERSHIP
All Oko citizens, by birth or adoption, living in the continental United States of America or in the larger Diaspora by attachment, have capacity to become general members of O.P.U-U.S.A. There are two categories of membership.


A. A financial member shall be any member who contributes financially to the affairs of the organization.

B.  A financial member in good standing is any member who satisfies all required responsibilities as stipulated by the organization in the financial year.

Section 3: MANAGEMENT
All management powers herein granted will vest in a Committee of Coordinators.

SUB-SECTION 1: The Committee of Coordinators will consist of a Chief Coordinator and two other Coordinators which will be elected every two years, during the biennial convention, and the sitting Chairperson/Presidents of all the regional Oko organizations affiliated with this Union (“Affiliate Regional Organization”). The Chairmen/Presidents of the affiliate regional organizations shall hereinafter be referred to as Associate Coordinators.

The power to elect the Chief Coordinator as well as its other Coordinators will be vested on those in good financial standing during the biennial convention.

SUB-SECTION 2: No person shall be elected a Chief Coordinator or a Coordinator who is not a member in good financial standing at the time of the election. A member shall be deemed to be in good financial standing if he has paid all his dues, fees, fines and charges that became due during the period up to and including the immediate past calendar year. The due date for full payment of the dues, fees, fines, and charges shall be the date of the particular voting or event, unless otherwise stated/specified by the Committee of Coordinators.

SUB-SECTION 3: The Committee of Coordinators will have the power to collect dues, fines, and set-up administrative infrastructures as they may deem necessary for the smooth running of the organization.

Section 4: DUTIES OF COORDINATORS
Sub-Section 1: The Chief Coordinator shall preside over the business of OPU-USA, and meetings of the Committee of Coordinators. Decisions at the meetings of Committee of Coordinators shall be by a simple majority of members present or participating in any form of electronic conference.

Sub-Section 2: The Chief Coordinator shall appoint a Secretary from amongst the elected Coordinators. Upon such appointment, the other elected Coordinator automatically becomes the Financial Secretary.

Sub-Section 3: SECRETARY: The Secretary shall be responsible for all the minutes of the meetings of the Committee of Coordinators and all general correspondence and records of the OPU-USA.

Sub-Section 4: FINANCIAL SECRETARY: The Financial Secretary shall be responsible for keeping, and maintaining all the financial records of the Union, including periodic or specific financial reporting or update.

Sub-Section 5: MEETINGS: The Committee of Coordinators will communicate among its members as many times as they deem necessary, but must restrict its communications to reasonable means of communication. A meeting or conference among the elected Committee of Coordinators shall form a quorum when at least one-third of the members of the committee are present. To constitute a quorum, at least two out of the three elected Coordinators must be present.

Section 5: REPLACEMENT OF A COORDINATOR
If the Chief Coordinator, or any of the elected coordinators, becomes unable to discharge his/her duties before the end of his tenure in office, by reason of ill health, death, resignation or becoming incapacitated for any reason, a successor in office shall be chosen by the Committee of Coordinators in a manner provided for under this Article.


Sub-Section 1: In the case of the Chief Coordinator becoming unable to discharge his/her duties, the Committee of Coordinators shall choose a successor from amongst the two elected Coordinators.

Sub-Section 2: In the case of any of the elected Coordinators other than the Chief Coordinator becoming unable to discharge his/her duties, or a vacancy arises due to an elected Coordinator being elevated to Chief Coordinator pursuant to subsection (1), the Committee of Coordinators shall chose from OPU-USA membership a member who is in good financial standing on the date of the choice.

Sub-Section 3: In all cases, the tenure in office of any Coordinator chosen under this section shall end on the date the tenure of his/her replacing should have ended.

Section 6: PERIODICAL REPORT
The Committee of Coordinators shall update members no later than every 6 months from the date after they were sworn into office.

ARTICLE 2


Section 1: COMPENSATION FOR SERVICE
Members of the Committee of Coordinators will not receive a monetary compensation for their service (s). The duties of the Committee of Coordinators are done on voluntary basis.

Section 2: POSSIBLE REIMBURSEMENT
A Coordinator may receive reimbursement for reasonable expenses incurred within the scope of his duty, if approved by majority of the Committee of Coordinators, subject to ratification at the next biennial convention.

Sub-Section 1: Approval regarding the expenses may not be unreasonably withheld; however, where allegations of unreasonable withholding of approval is alleged, it shall be resolved at the next convention by a simple majority of members in good financial standing present.

ARTICLE 3

Section 1: VOTING RIGHT
At each biennial convention, only members in good financial standing shall cast vote on all issues except where otherwise explicitly stated to the contrary in this document. 

Section 2: VOTING PROCEDURE
To ensure free and fair electoral mandate, all the voting must be through Open ballot system except where otherwise stated to the contrary in this document.

ARTICLE 4

Section 1: PURPOSE OF ESTABLISHMENT (This should move up and become part of Article 1)
OPU-USA is established mainly to coordinate the efforts of Oko citizens in their collective efforts to augment the existing efforts at home.

Section 2: OPU-USA shall coordinate activities between its members and OPU General, Oko. To ensure proper coordination with those at home, OPU-USA shall use best efforts to achieve effective delivery of service to the selected targets at home.

Section 3: OPU-USA shall direct its communication with OPU GENERAL, Oko through the Chairman/President of OPU GENERAL, Oko, unless good cause in writing exists mitigating against such procedure.

Section 4: All disbursements from OPU-USA to anyone in the name of our hometown must be backed with authentic receipt explaining in details the nature of transaction (s). In order to validate such transactions, at least no less than three witnesses (Oko citizens) must give their names, addresses, telephone numbers, and verifiable signatures to support the transaction.

Sub-Section 1: No individual OPU-USA is authorized to speak on behalf of OPU-USA, unless delegated in writing by the Committee of Coordinators. Also, the subject matter of the representation must be specified in writing.

ARTICLE 5


Section 1: BANK ACCOUNT
OPU-USA shall maintain a checking account at a bank or financial institution to be determined by the elected Coordinators at all times.

Section 2: SIGNATORY TO THE ACCOUNT
The valid signatories for the operation of any existing bank account shall, in the minimum, be the Chief Coordinator and at least, one of the other elected Coordinators signing jointly. No Coordinator shall be able to delegate his account signatory privilege, derived in this section, by way of a ‘power of attorney’ or any other instrument.

Section 3: MONETARY ACCOUNTABILITY
OPU-USA shall account for all monies received upon request from any member in good financial standing provided such person meets the following requirements:

a) Send a written request to the Chief Coordinator or any of the two elected Coordinators; if to the later, a true certified copy of the request must be forwarded to the Chief Coordinator.

b) Attach at least $20.00 in check or money order along with the request.

Accounting must be rendered within two weeks of receipt, or written explanation of the exact reason for the delay. All requests for accounting shall be responded to by certified U.S. Mail.

ARTICLE 6

Section 1: ROTATION OF BIENNIAL CONVENTION

Convention shall rotate among the organizations, and shall be held at every two year interval. The next site for the convention shall be determined by the members present at the biennial convention.

ARTICLE 7

Section 1: AFFILIATE REGIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

For the purpose of the provisions in the Articles of this constitution, OPU-USA shall maintain a compiled list of all the Affiliate Regional Organizations.

Section 2: Membership in an Affiliate Regional Organization is desirable and highly recommended to all the members of OPU-USA, but shall not be a necessary condition for membership of OPU-USA. As a means of enhancing social and cultural interaction between members, it is desirable, and members shall be encouraged but not required to, whenever possible, belong to an Affiliate Regional Organization within their geographic location.

Section 3: On record, there exist the following Affiliate Regional Organizations (in alphabetical order):

1. Nzuko Oko Atlanta, GA
2. Oko Development Foundation, San Jose, CA
3. Oko United Association, Houston, TX
4. OPU-USA, Chicago-Milwaukee Branch, Chicago, IL
5. OPU Tri-State, New York, NY


Section 4: ADDING/OR WITHDRAWING OF AN AFFILIATE MEMBERSHIP

Additional Affiliate Regional Organizations may, in the future, be recognized and added to the list of Affiliate Regional Organizations on the basis of the principles enshrined in this section. Equally, an existing Affiliate Regional Organization may have its recognition withdrawn as prescribed here under.

Sub-Section 1: Recognition of new Affiliate Regional Organizations or withdrawal of recognition of an existing Affiliate Regional Organization shall be the sole responsibility of the entire membership of the OPU-USA at a biennial convention, guided by the provisions of this Article, and on the recommendation of the Committee of Coordinators.

Sub-Section 2: Any group of six or more members in good financial standing, and resident in a geographic proximity, may organize and if they so desire apply for recognition through the Committee of Coordinators. The prospective Affiliate Regional Organization application must provide a list of the members and state clearly the city or locality the new Affiliate Regional Organization shall be based.

Sub-Section 3: The Committee of Coordinators shall, within two months of receipt, validate an application for recognition of an Affiliate Regional Organization submitted in accordance to subsection 6C, and make a recommendation to the earliest biennial convention that is at least 3 months from the date of the validation/recommendation.

Sub-Section 4: The Committee of Coordinators shall ensure that the detailed information concerning the application of members, locality or city of the prospective Affiliate Regional Organization, and their recommendation to the convention-are circulated to the entire membership at least 2 months before the convention that will consider the application.

Sub-Section 5: A convention may approve the recommendation of the Committee of Coordinators by a simple majority vote, or override the recommendation of the Committee of Coordinators with a two third majority vote.

Sub-Section 6: The recognition of an Affiliate Regional Organization may be withdrawn by a biennial convention, on the recommendation of the Committee of Coordinators. The Committee of Coordinators may recommend the withdrawal of recognition of an Affiliate Regional Organization if:


6A: The membership of such an Affiliate Regional Organization falls below three.
6B: The Affiliate Regional Organization applies to have its recognition withdrawn.
6C: For any other reason(s)which a convention, upon the recommendation of the Committee of Coordinators, deems unbecoming of an Affiliate Regional Organization. In all cases the general membership shall be fully advised, at least 2 months to the biennial convention, about the recommendation and/or application to withdraw recognition of an Affiliate Regional Organization.

ARTICLE 8

Section 1: CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT
A motion to amend any provision of this constitution can be submitted by any member of OPU-USA who is in good financial standing at the time of such request (hereinafter referred to as the “Sponsor”) to any member of the Committee of Coordinators. The motion must be seconded by at least 5 members who are equally in good financial standing with OPU-USA.

Section 2: On receipt of the motion to amend the constitution the member of the Committee of Coordinators receiving the request is obligated, within 2 weeks, to circulate the motion to all members of the Committee of Coordinators. The Committee of Coordinators shall validate the motion and if the provisions of section 1 above have been satisfied and provided the motion was submitted at least 3 months before the next biennial convention, then the motion will be scheduled for deliberation at the convention. The Sponsor must remain in good financial standing at the convention during which the motion shall be deliberated upon, otherwise, the motion may not be heard.

Section 3: The Committee of Coordinators shall be obligated to distribute the motion scheduled for deliberation as in Section 2 to the entire membership at least 2 months before the convention during which the motion will be deliberated.


Sub-Section 1: The Sponsor shall have the right to open the debate on his motion during the convention, and shall have the right to accept or reject any or all amendments to his motion that are proposed by others during the debate.

Section 4: The final motion to amend the constitution, incorporating any amendments as in Section 3, shall be put to a vote only after a reasonable time has been allowed for debate by the members present. Overall passage of the motion shall be by at least two-thirds votes of the members in good financial standing present.

ARTICLE 9

Section 1: WELFARE PROGRAM
In line with the spirit of fairness to all upon which this organization was founded, and mindful of the fact that this is a not-for-profit entity, the OPU-USA members after some deliberative considerations, unanimously agreed to establish a welfare program for its members living in the United States of America. The rationale behind this program is to be able to reach out to any of our members in case of tragic death, bearing in mind that we are very far away from our homeland.

CERTIFICATE OF CHIEF COORDINATOR
I hereby certify that I am the Chief Coordinator of OPU-USA, a nonprofit corporation, and that the foregoing Amended Constitution, 7 pages in length, constitute the Amended Constitution of said corporation as duly adopted by the members of OPU-USA on August 6, 2005.  IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto subscribed my name this 6th day of August 2005.

Signed:
Mr. Gabriel Okeke
Chief Coordinator OPU-USA

Members of Ad-hoc Constitutional Review Committee
Chief (Dr.) Osita Ekwueme  (Committee Chaiman)
Mr. Elijah Ezeofor
Chief (Dr.) Bonnie O. Ezechukwu (Committee Secretary)