Authorities Interference Generates Crisis
A
Call for Petitions
The
Education Rights Campaign (ERC) calls on the authorities of Obafemi Awolowo
University (OAU), Ile-Ife to respect the democratic rights of students to
determine who lead them in the union elections. The attempt of the university
management to prevent five (5) students, including Oluwole Engels a socialist
student and member of the ERC, from participating in the elections is utterly condemnable.
They
were disqualified by the electoral commission acting on the orders of the
University management. The reason advanced by the management is that these five
(5) students were indicted at one time or the other during the 3-year struggle
for the restoration of the union. The Students Union was banned in 2011 after
students protested against increase of acceptance fees from N2, 000 to N20, 000
and other anti-poor policies. The ERC played a leading role in the 3-year
campaign to restore the union.
Their
disqualification is aimed at making scapegoats of radical students, who played
active roles in the struggle for the restoration of the student union. It is
also aimed at ensuring emergence of a pliable student union leadership that
will dance to the tunes of the management.
The
management has directed the Student Electoral Commission, which is more or less
a lapdog, to ensure that some students are prevented from contesting on the
basis of an obnoxious indictment. This so-called ‘indictment’ is premised on
the appearance of the students before the university Student’s Disciplinary
Committee set up by the management to query students for their role in the
struggle for the restoration of the banned student union.
The
ERC, DSM and other radical and left groups on campus had earlier condemned this
kangaroo disciplinary committee. Interestingly, the report or recommendations
of the committee were never made public neither were the students allowed to
defend themselves against the report of such committee. Therefore, dusting up a
dirty indictment from nowhere is a deliberate effort at preventing the students
from deciding who leads them.
We in
the ERC welcome the heroic decision of the students who rose in their thousands
to oppose any attempt at eroding away their democratic rights. The students
instinctively realized that if management were allowed to select their leaders
for them, a terrible precedent would have been set. On Saturday, 12th April,
2014, students organized mass protest to demand reversal of the obnoxious
indictment. Since then, the management and its lapdog Electoral Commission have
been in crisis. They have utilized every method, including arm-twisting,
provocation and hide-and-seek to prevent student from building a vibrant and
democratic union.
For
instance, the Manifesto meetings, where the contestants are allowed to explain
their programmes to students, have been postponed twice by the management and
the electoral commission. Meanwhile, students have continued to defend their
democratic rights.
While
management, as a result of mass pressure from students, was compelled to
restore the student union after three years of ban; the real aim of the
management is to have a pliable students union that will be unable to challenge
its anti-poor education policies. Left to the university management,
handpicking student leaders would have been the best option, but the mass
pressure from students was overwhelming. If the management is allowed to have
its way, this will set a terrible precedent for not only the university, but
also other institutions.
More
than this, it will also serve as launch pad for other undemocratic and
anti-student policies. While the ASUU struggle forced the government to commit
some minimal intervention funds to universities, various university
authorities, who opposed ASUU struggle, are strategizing to corner these funds
for pecuniary interests. This explains the attempt at having pliable student
unions that will raise no eyebrow to mismanagement of funds. This is glaring in
OAU. For instance, while the university management spent hundreds of millions
of naira on a swimming pool that average student hardly have access to, most
student laboratories lack distilled water, while clean and potable water supply
to hostels is elusive.
We
therefore call on the university management to respect the democratic wish of
the students. We also call on the public including student organizations, civil
society groups, labour movement and individuals to prevail on the authorities
of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), to hands off the students union, and stop
its unwholesome interference in the affair of student union.
You
can send your petitions to:
The
Vice Chancellor, Professor ‘Tale Omole
Tel: 0803721150 E-mail: taleomole@yahoo.com
Dean
of Students’ Affairs, Dr. Lateefat Durosinmi
Tel: 08037271817
Please send a copy of your petition to the ERC through:
Tel:
07033697259 E-mail:
edurightsforall@yahoo.co.uk
Hassan Taiwo Soweto
National Coordinator
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