Many rejoinders are out there on the rustication of a budding Journalist Kunle Adebajo... This is by a member of the Solidarity Action Network, edited by the chair. Your submission is most welcome...
The university used to be the citadel of learning, vault of ideas, beacon of hope for voiceless masses and thorn in the flesh of tyrants.
The Late Aire Iyare of Uniben, WS, Edwin Madunagu, Comrade Ola Oni, Osoba and one prominent activist from ABU amongst others, wrote, spoke and demonstrated against the jackboot dictatorship of Gowon.
The university was at the forefront when GMB jailed two journalists for a publication. Pardon me if I miss few words but I remember Aire Iyare:
Every country has something to teach or share but what Nigeria has to offer is nothing but the *techniques and tactics of corruption*.
Those days before social media, the smuggled articles made it through the underground media. We learnt from them.
When the Obasanjo military junta continued with the squandermania started by the prodigal son, Gowon by continuing BREASTAC, (sorry FESTAC), Lagos Trade Fair (when we produce nothing to be traded), Scout Jamboree etc, we watched.
Less than a year after, university feeding was increased from 50k (Fifty kobo) per day to N1.50k (One Naira Fifty kobo), we protested.
The military responded with bullets. A brutal killing of Akintunde in Lagos and multiple in ABU etc. became legacies of ALI Must Go.
University of Ibadan (UI) students reminded Col. Ahmadu Ali that as a student leader, he protested against the noisy rail line disturbing studies. Segun Okeowo was jailed but later made a member (maybe settlement) of the Constituent Assembly that got out the 1979 Constitution.
Writing against ills of the society was a normal occurrence. Pyrate Confraternity which was later taken over by gangs and idiots was a formidable force in UI. Everyone knew respectable dons, Soyinka, Olu Agunloye, Ukoli, Muyiwa Awe that were seadogs.
While I was not privy to the blood covenant that occurred during initiation, the most potent force was their magazine, the Scorpion. I visited the room of one of my academic mentors when he was a final year medical student only to find out he was the Capone.
They were cerebral. They were disciplined. They would publish any story of the Akindeles. They were not expelled for this. Pyrates would never invade hostels or reading areas. What is my business going to graveyard at 12 midnight to eavesdrop on pyrates? Even if you meet their procession accidentally, you are advised to turn back. Seadogs who dropped or failed in academics were promptly declared unfit to 'sail'. Their names would be published. The Christian Unions would jubilate but the larger body knew the level of discipline. Pyrate was not for failures.
When some expelled pyrates went to form Buccaneers, a phrase from Pyrate books, that became the starting point of intra cult rivalry. Black Axe, Vampire, Eiye, Black Brazier, Jezebel and others followed long after I left. When a weak cult is oppressed by a rival cult, they simply go and import executioners from outside to unleash mayhem, as it did in Ife, LASU et al.
Back to the cerebral days, students were at the forefront of protests. NUNS would have been to the national Assembly, expose the legislooters and taken their cases to the masses. In a situation where feeding is a problem, taps not running and the only reliable power being the power of the sun during the day, we can understand why SUG is no longer potent.
I still commend the sprinkles and trickles of excellence that still come out but I am now ashamed to be associated with many of our empty head graduates. If all you need to do is buy handout, buy gifts for lecturers, offer money or body for marks, the end product would always stick out like grain of maize corn in a bowl of red beans.
Let the Student Union (SU) fight the rustication of Kunle Adebajo. Let lawyers join the fray.
Every law student know about Garba and others vs University of Maiduguri (I am not permitted to quote the ANLR as an unlearned) when it comes to nemo judis.
This is another avenue for a rookie lawyer to gain prominence. Gani floored FRA in Maiduguri High Court and the Apex Court. In between the Court of Appeal overturned the judgement of the lower court. Many of us would be ready to contribute our few thousands for this cause. Gani gained prominence when he got redress of £10K for Amakiri in Rivers state when Iwowari the police commissioner brutalised and shaved his head over the publication of an article that embarrassed the military governor, Diette Spiff!
That was a FIRST in Nigeria. The rest is history
I will remind UI, like Reagan quipped at the Berlin wall in 1985:
*Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall*
University of Ibadan, rescind this rustication.
Yinka Adeosun, UI Alumnus.
Kuti Hall Commissioner of Finance, 1978/79
Graduate of Mech. Engr.
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