The memories of July 10, 1999 will continue to be a defining moment in the annals of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) in Ile-Ife, Osun State. The event of that day will forever remain fresh as it is passed on from generation of students to another. It marked the watershed in the history of students’ unionism at the Great Ife.
It was the day George Akinyemi Iwilade (aka Afrika) was hacked to death by members of the Black Axe Confraternity in alliance with other cult groups. Afrika, who was then the General Secretary of the Students’ Union Government (SUG), wasn’t the only victim of that vicious attack visited on the collective will of students. Four of his roommates, Eviano Ekelemu (a graduating student), Yemi Ajiteru (a 100-Level Philosophy student), Babatunde Oke, and Godfrey Ekpede were murdered in their sleep, as the group came for the then SUG President, Lanre Adeleke (aka Legacy).
Prof Roger Makanjuola’s account of the gory incident is even more descriptive, when he said: “Babatunde Oke was still alive but died on the operating table. Four others, George Iwilade, Yemi Ajiteru, Efe Ekpede and Eviano Ekelemu, were brought in dead. Eviano Ekelemu bled to death from gunshot wounds to the groin and thigh. The other three died from gunshot wounds to the head.”
Legacy was reported to have fled the campus before the assailants arrived at his hostel in the wee hours of July 10; though he was said to have been shot at. It was reported that he escaped by jumping from a balcony when the gun-wielding attackers came for him after killing Afrika in cold blood.
The product of that horrific past is the vibrant unionism at Great Ife. However, 18 years after this gory incident, stability has continued to elude the Great Ife campus, not just in administrative policies but in students’ unionism. It would seem the efforts of those who sacrificed their lives to fight for independence of our SUG from the hands of cultists and university administrators were in vain, given the parlous state of the union. Just as the country is faced with myriads of problems, OAU has its challenges. Democracy can only be sustained in a pro-democratic ambience, but that vibrancy once associated with our union has eroded 18 years down the line. The school has had its recent share of sad events, with the current union president accused of by-passing the congress to pursue self-serving projects.The union president has also been seen engaging in projects that do not have direct impact on students.
The union recently acquired a bus that has been declared unfit for transportation. The transaction has raised all manner of accusations and counter-accusation. This makes me ask a question on whether OAU is truly honouring Afrika’s legacy?
Only recently, former Acting Vice Chancellor, Prof Anthony Elujoba, was arrested for alleged fraud. Prof Elujoba, who has been described as a “man of the people”, because of his prompt payments of salaries and arrears to staff and a stable academic calendar, is now battling to save his name in court of law.
The unrest Great Ife has witnessed in the tenure of successive SUG leadership has always been caused by welfare. It is a shame that we have a students’ union in place, but students are daily driven out of their hostel rooms to sleep in the corridors, because their rooms are infested with bed bugs and all sorts of termites. Students also battle rats and dangerous reptiles in their halls of residence.
The campus has become a place where students are exploited, cheated by drivers of the campus shuttles and made to pay exorbitant prices for services. When we gather every July 10 to remember the sacrifice of our heroes, we must bear in mind that we owe the coming generation of students a duty to bequeath a vibrant union. Students’ union is a pressure group. If SUG leaders cannot account for a N2.9 million bus which is described, in many quarters, as an inferior vehicle, what then is the essence of the union? A subvention of N9 million was released to the union, but the money could not be used to better lives of the students.
At 21, young and still very active, Afrika was murdered. He was murdered for advocating for a cultism-free campus, which we all enjoy till today. Today, we have the freedom to move freely on the campus at any hour of the day, because of one man who sacrificed his life for others to have peace.
What legacies shall we then leave behind for prospective students, 18 years after Afrika and five others were brutally murdered? These are questions we must answer very fast. As we say in the union, the death of consciousness is the rise of tyranny. As we remember them, the people who gathered for the commemoration and the current SUG leadership must provide answer to this question.
- Joseph is a student of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife
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