Noman Ibne Sabit: The Federation of Bangladeshi Associations in North America (FOBANA) has been involved in a new conspiracy to expel Bangladeshi expatriates from the United States. The chairman and executive secretary of Fobana’s current committee has accused the United States of spreading confusion among expatriates over the past few weeks by slandering them in the name of forming a bogus convening committee to the 36th Fobana Conference to be held in Chicago on September 2-4. They noted that some individuals who had been expelled for engaging in immoral activities and had lost the Fobana election had become active again in their anti-Fobana activities.
Some people who were expelled from the Fobana Central Committee for unethical conduct for a long time for engaging in immoral activities and lost the Fobana election have already formed a fake convening committee which is completely illegal and unconstitutional.
Illegal and expelled members of Fobana cannot legally convene the annual general meeting through the convening committee. Atiqur Rahman Atiq and Rafiq Khan have been announced as the chairman and secretary of the convening committee respectively. Atiq was a former member of Fobana. He was expelled for engaging in immoral activities. Although he has been in charge of the Fobana Conference several times, he has not given any account of the income and expenditure of the conference to anyone. As a result, he is known as the most controversial person among the members of the Fobana Steering Committee.
Rafiq Khan was embarrassingly and shamefully defeated in an election as secretary. After that he could not find any future in Fobana. He considered himself the most cunning person in Fobana by making unauthorized changes to the constitution and bylaws on Fobana’s official website. He changed managers in the Fobana DC corporate office without Fobana’s approval, which is considered a cyber crime. Kabir Kiran is the joint secretary of the convening committee. He got only 7 votes in the last election as treasurer. Kabir was miserably defeated against Manik. Manik got 38 votes.
Rafiq Khan couple run an organization together. He has no future in legal phobia. Kabir Kiran felt the urgent need to join the bogus convening committee to boost his self-esteem after his embarrassing defeat in a legitimate election. Zahid Hossain Pintu, the so-called vice-chairman of the convening committee, was similarly defeated in the election of Fobana as an executive member. He was expelled for violating multiple Fobana bylaws and the constitution. There are widespread allegations of cheating with many national and international artists during his conference in Los Angeles. The failure of his convention in Los Angeles and the misuse of funds were widely reported in Bangladesh and the United States at that time. Bedarul Islam Babla, another elected member of the convening committee, raised thousands of dollars in the name of Fobana along with his brother-in-law Shahin by running the manpower business on a large scale at his conference in 2015. He was lost the election and received the lowest number of votes in the election as an outstanding member but only thanks to all the former chairmen he was able to win the term at this time.
Another member of the so-called convening committee Zakaria Chowdhury is a self-proclaimed conspirator and mastermind of the committee. As a former chairman, he has violated the Zero tolerance principle of the by-laws and the constitution. As a result, he was declared incompetent and illiterate while he was the chairman. His hateful actions include illegally and unilaterally expelling Fobana, although the vice chairman and executive secretary have no authority to do so. He gave interviews to the country’s television and newspapers with bribes from Fobana. He has no marketing qualifications other than promoting himself. He was also the advisor and mastermind of the disrespectful actions of GI Russell and Shibbir Ahmed. Zakaria Chowdhury has cheated with Fobana artists and patrons. Not surprisingly, the two men, GI Russell and Shibbir Ahmed, are on the so-called convening committee. Since they were formally and quickly expelled from Fobana for their illegal activities. There are widespread allegations against them of violating the constitution. They embezzled thousands of dollars at the last Fobana conference and cheated Fobana members. There are a number of individuals and organizations listed under the so-called convening committee who do not even know that they are on the fake convening committee. Most importantly, these illegally formed convening committees are mostly composed of one-man organizations, spouses’ organizations, or business partners, and most do not qualify as Fobana members.
On June 2, some media outlets reported that Fobana and some individuals opposed to Fobana’s Central Committee had spread false news about Fobana’s new ad hoc committee, which was not true and was unconstitutional. Fobana Chairman Rehan Reza and Executive Secretary Masud Rob Chowdhury said in a press release signed. They said some individuals who had been expelled and had lost the Fobana election were carrying out such activities in order to tarnish Fobana’s reputation and engage in unethical activities to create divisions in Fobana.
It is to be noted that in the last May 29th meeting of the Central Committee of Fobana, the persons who were expelled from the meeting for their unacceptable behavior, were followed in accordance with the rules of Fobana for their misconduct. So, in their despicable desire for revenge, those individuals are spreading propaganda against the Central Committee and the constitution of Fobana to form a new convening committee and are trying in vain to confuse the common people. Those who have the audacity to form a new convening committee by unconstitutionally presenting issues such as the abolition of the Fobana Central Committee were also at one time the main leaders of Fobana through media coverage. It is astonishing to think that all the organizations participating in the conspiracy meeting or the number mentioned are completely false and untrue. We would like to draw the attention of all to the fact that the Central Committee of Fobana is still in force in accordance with the constitution of Fobana and the present Central Committee of Fobana will continue to play a steadfast role in continuing all the activities of Fobana.
The 36th Fobana Conference is set to take place in Chicago, Illinois on September 2-4 this year. The host organization is ‘Bangladesh Associations of Chicagoland’. The Fobana authorities urged the media not to be misled by the false information and news of the anti-Fobana conspiracy in the media.
BP/SM
