…accuse mgt of oppression, high handedness
Students of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, have demanded the release of the five student union leaders arrested by the police, arraigned in court and remanded in prison custody over the alleged refusal of some of their colleagues to leave the various halls of residence on the institution’s campus since the last session ended.
The students also accused the OAU management of oppression, violation of their rights and attempts to gag them.
Last week, the students were allegedly forcibly evicted from the halls of residence, following a directive from the university administration, through the Dean, Division of Student Affairs, to hall managers to eject them.
It was in the process that some of the student representative members protesting the eviction of their colleagues were arrested, allegedly on the orders of the school management. They were arraigned in court and remanded in prison custody, pending the perfection of their bail conditions.
A member of the Student Action Committee, who pleaded anonymity, told our correspondent that the Vice Chancellor of the school, Prof. Ogunbodede Eyitope, had been despotic in handling the matter.
He accused the OAU management of failure to observe due process in sanctioning the student leaders.
He said, “The arrested student representatives were taken to court as early as 8.am to stop students from going to the police station on March 24, 2018. The students and journalists were also denied entry into the court premises. Those who had already entered the court premises were identified by the school security committee and chased out of the court premises.
“The police claimed that they had orders to shoot us if we attempted to enter the court premises. The students’ arraignment was secret and not transparent. The case was adjourned till April 3, while the judge gave bail conditions of a sum of N500, 000 each with two sureties who are civil servants of level 12 and who are regular tax payers. Our colleagues will remain in Koshere prison till the next court sitting or when their bail is perfected.”
He added that the policemen fired several teargas canisters to disperse other students and sympathisers from the court’s vicinity while conveying the five remanded students in a convoy of three vans to Koshere prison.
“Is this how a school should be run? Will the VC want his child to go through what these students are experiencing now? This is very unfair, our representatives were only fighting for our rights. So, why this inhumane treatment? We won’t rest till we get justice. The management cannot just stand up and give orders without minding whose ox is gored,” he further said.
The coordinator of one of student groups, Alliance of Nigerian Students Against Neo-Liberal Attacks, OAU Chapter, Femi Sodunola, also accused the institution’s vice chancellor of being autocratic in dealing with issues affecting the students.
Sodunola alleged that the OAU management had always resorted to gagging the students and placing a ban on student unionism.
He added, ”As much as we condemn the autocratic manner in which the vice chancellor acts, it is important to concretely and constitutionally condemn the rotten Nigerian legal system as the Kangaroo court trial was edged towards a criminal, unconstitutional and political alliance between the Nigeria Police Force, the presiding magistrate and the university management.
“Taking cognizance to the law of the land, the manner in which students were arrested and detained contradicted the provisions of Part 19, Sections 30, 31 of the 2015 Administration of Criminal Justice Act of the Nigerian Constitution.
“The court gave harsh bail conditions, which are ordinarily meant for armed robbers and hardened criminals. We hereby enjoin students, legal practitioners, workers, human rights activists and well-meaning Nigerians to intervene in this case as justice must be established for historical and revolutionary legacy to be laid, despite the recent trend of injustice that becloud the legal system.”
The ANSANA coordinator noted, “We vehemently condemn the forceful and criminal eviction of students from hostels in the first place. As it stands now, Ife town is not a safe haven for students as there have been various cases of insecurity like assault, rape, cult attack on our colleagues. A very recent one happened on Friday, 23rd of March 2018, which led to the wanton destruction of lives and property. As if this is not bad news, our vice chancellor wants students to go to town and face this insecurity in town.
“We strongly appeal and call for solidarity and support from the generality of Nigerian students across campuses nationwide, the civil society, the public and NLC to see this as a fight for all and justice must not only be done, but manifestly seen to have been done. We need the release and reinstatement of the OAU 8 or else we will expose Ogunbodede’s tyranny, culpable corruption and desperation to repress students at the expense of their rights and wellbeing.”
Efforts by our correspondent to speak with the OAU Public Relations Officer, Mr. Biodun Olarenwaju, on the allegations made by the students proved abortive.
His phone was not available and he did not reply text messages sent to him as at the time of filing this report.
