Governor Amosun's
Action is a Mockery of Democracy
The Education Rights Campaign (ERC) condemns the forced
closure of Olabisi OnabanjoUniversity (OOU) by the Ibikunle Amosun state
government. We are equally opposed to the militarisation of the campus by the
state government which was meant to demobilise the mass of students from
organizing further planned mass actions against the fee hike.
We demand the immediate reopening of the University and the
meeting of all demands of students for substantial reduction in their hiked
fees and improved funding of the University.
According to press reports, the closure is to
"forestall breakdown of law and order". This argument is ridiculous.
It is also a mockery of democracy. By this closure, the message the state
government is passing across is that once students disagree with a government
policy, the consequence would be to be "labelled as threat to peace of the
state", the closure of their campus and the disruption of their academics.
Governor Ibikunle Amosun should check his language. In this
era of boko haram terror, describing ordinary students and young people who are
merely protesting for their rights as "threat to peace" is highly
damaging to the image of these students who are the Nation's future and
moreover, it is an insult to their parents.
The real reason the State government closed down the
University is to avoid meeting the demands of students for substantial
reduction in their hiked fees to an amount not higher than N50, 000. To achieve
this, the State government is trying to criminalize the students and prepare the
ground for police arrests and other forms of victimisation. We like to remind
the Ogun State Police Command that this is a democracy and the use of police to
harrass students and ordinary Nigerians fighting for their legitimate right
will not be tolerated. The ERC shall resist attempts by the Police to arrest,
detain or victimise OOU students and their leaders in any way.
The Amosun Government like all APC governments has elevated
lying into a statecraft. The impression being deliberately created that
students are violent is not true. Some weeks ago, the students protested
peacefully to the Governors Office in Abeokuta. The first day of the protest,
some hoodlums attacked the students while the police watched. The next day, the
police fired tear gas at the students, arrested, slapped and brutalised the
Vice President of the Students Union, Seliat Ogunbiyi. It was only when it
became clear that the use of violence would not disperse the students that
Governor Amosun now came down to discuss with the students. At the end of the
parley, the Governor asked for a few days after which he would invite the
students leaders to discuss how to resolve the issues. The students promptly
dispersed and went back to their campus to await the Governor. If the students were
really violent and could cause "breakdown of law and order", would it
have been possible for the Governor to meet and parley with them?
The ERC believes that the real threat to the peace of Ogun
State is the anti-poor and dictatorial Amosun-led state government whose
pro-rich, divisive and cynical policies on education have the capability not
only to cause "breakdown of law and order" but also to mortgage the
future of the youths.
We hold that the forced closure of the Olabisi Onabanjo
University (OOU) is a direct attack on the democratic rights of the mass of
students. We call on the mass of students to remain resolute and dogged inspite
of all these attacks. We demand the reversal of the closure of the university
and for the the Ibikunle Amosun regime to meet the demands of the mass of
students.
We call on the leadership of the Students' union in the
university to provide virile leadership to the mass of students by organizing
mass meetings of students in main cities such as Abeokuta, Ago Iwoye, Ijebu-Ode
and Lagos where the mass of students are concentrated. It is only by this
approach that practical activities such as mass occupations and protests can be
undertaken. It is equally through this approach that the struggle for the total
reversal of the fee hike can be achieved.
The ERC supports the struggle and demands of OOU students.
The same way we backed students of the Lagos State University (LASU) to resist
and ultimately defeat the Fashola anti-poor government fee hike, we shall
support OOU students until the anti-poor and dictatorial Ibikunle Amosun-led
government of Ogun State bows to the people's will.
Hassan
Taiwo Soweto
Michael Ogundele
National
Coordinator National Secretary
07033697259
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