AS WE APPROACH JUNE 1ST: STUDENTS, SECURITY AND THE GREAT IFE UNION

We, the past Leaders of the prestigious Obafemi Awolowo University Students’ Union commend the daunting courage and gallant efforts recently channeled by the mass of Great Ife Students towards ridding the campus off social menaces like cultism. 

We are well aware of the recent spates of cult-like violence and other sundry security breaches on our great alma mater. As Apostles of fair warning, we wish to advise all aspiring agent provocateur to steer clear and stay all concluded actions for their own good. Our unequivocal stand remains the age-long historical zero tolerance against the festering of cultism, gangsterism, rape/yahoo/ritual killings and all forms of antisocial vices on the Great Citadel of Learning. We must state clearly that even though we are no longer on campus, the sacred tradition of collective vigilance that our revolutionary Union represent yet remain our strength and fortress in times like this. To us, the widely circulated letter on campus is at best a threat in futility. We will not fold our arms and watch our hallowed soil desecrated by some disgruntled never-do-well neo-fascist elements.

In case anyone cares, our hatred and disgust for cultism and all of its associated vices on campus is not accidental. For the records, as some of you must have learnt from the history of the Students’ Union, July 10, 1999 was the date a group of Cultists unleashed the worst human carnage on our peaceful campus. To that unforgettable memory, we lost five (5) of our finest minds at their prime to that attack; and one of the victims was the then Vibrant Secretary General of the Students’ Union in person of George Akinyemi Iwilade (Afrika). 

19years years after, we are today again awakened to danger by this widely circulated letter; another call to defend our freedom. Our griefs have turned to anger and anger to resolutions. On this stance, whether we bring our enemies to justice or bring justice to our enemies, justice will no doubt be served. Don’t be the victim; anyone who participates in the execution of this criminal enterprise will never survive the crushing of the moving train [mass of Great Ife Students] which our revolutionary Union represents. As often said, those who refused to learn the lessons of history are bound to repeat the mistakes of the past.

It is on the strength of our revolutionary past that we pledge our unfettered support for the Students. We advise everyone to stay vigilant in defense of our historical heritage from these hopeless societal misfits.

Over the years, the task of securing the lives and properties of Students had always been a burden borne by the Students’ Union. To this end, we advise the University Management to take all the necessary steps to forestall this threatened attack and one of the ways to do this is to unconditionally reinstate the proscribed Students’ Union in order to give the Students a platform to directly participate in the task of securing and advancing the course of the Students.

Students must organize and come together in peaceful gatherings to work out innovative ideas to forestall the menace of cultism rearing its head all over again on our campus. It is a duty that some of us executed with sleepless nights and its attendant risks. It’s a generational task and we beseech you to play your own part well.

This brings us to the just implemented accommodation policy that has exposed most of our Students to incessant robberies, rape, attacks, cult-like bullying and all forms of insecurity. Historically, the last set of hostels built on OAU campus [Angola and Mozambique halls] were built during the Ife-Modakeke war. The essence was to ensure that enough accommodation was made available to accommodate Students who were hitherto aboding off campus. That the same University is today embarking on a policy that exposes about 70% of its Students to gruesome living conditions, transportation crisis, rent exploitation and unwholesome security breaches walks logic on its head. We reliably gathered from trusted sources that the said policy was hastily implemented to meet the private business needs of some top-shots officers of the University who built and owned most of the private hostels in town.

If the University Management fails to act fast on this life-threatening security issue, we will have no other option but to petition the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) who in the full glare of all would conduct its investigation and expose all beneficiaries of this ill-conceived enterprise. We also wish to note with dismay the wasteful venture the University Management is engaging in; as it beats our imagination that the University would be constructing its third Senate Building with the Central Bank of Nigeria allocated funds while the ones already built are yet to be fully occupied. In a saner system, this fund would have been invested in building more expansive hostels for the University teaming Students. For the ills the implemented policy portends, we call for its immediate total reversal while the financial books of the University should be opened for public probe of how funds meant for building affordable campus hostels were lavishly spent over the years for the purposes of transparency and accountability.

In conclusion, in our collective struggle to defeat this hydra-headed monster, we all must stay vigilant. We propose mass anti-cultism stop and search rallies coupled with the combing of all the nearby bushes on campus which is always their hideouts for blending and initiations, mass announcement and sensitization against cultism, consistent writing of articles to embolden our collective strength and democratic self-organization as the first step to addressing this threat.

Just so this generation knows, in our active days in the Union, most, if not all the leaders of these Cults were arrested in town, quarters and on campus and after administering the requisite shi-shi on the deserving ones, these cowards [Cult groups] were made to sign an everlasting undertaking never to attack or conduct their activities anywhere near our Students and campus.
We must therefore stay calm and resolute even in the face of a continuing threat. We urge you all to uphold the tenets of our most sacred values and never forget why many have come here. We are in a fight for our principles and our first responsibility is to live by them. We cannot afford to drift. We all must collectively contribute our generational quota in our quest to preserve the natural beauty of our heritage where the powerful must not be allowed to persecute the weak.

GREATEST IFE, BE REST ASSURED THAT WE WILL MEET THEIR THREAT WITH PATIENT JUSTICE; ASSURED OF THE RIGHTNESS OF OUR CAUSE AND CONFIDENT ON THE VICTORIES TO COME. IN ALL THAT LIES BEFORE US, MAY GOD GRANT US WISDOM TO ALWAYS CONQUER AND MAY HE WATCH OVER US ALL.
ALUTA CONTINUA, VICTORIA ASCERTA!!!


SIGNED:

ADELEKE OLORUNWA GODDEY (C.S.O, GREAT IFE STUDENTS’ UNION, 08/09)

E. A. S. DESTINY (SPEAKER, GREAT IFE STUDENTS’ UNION PARLIAMENT, 08/09)