END VICTIMIZATION OF STUDENT ACTIVISTS!!
Call
for Protest Letters and Solidarity
By Abbey Trotsky
 |
| Michael Ogundele victimised by UI management |
The Management of the University of
Ibadan (UI) has continued its notoriety of victimizing student activists who
lead students to challenge its highhandedness and demand improvement in welfare
condition. The latest attack is the recent rustication for one academic session
of a student activist, Comrade Michael Ogundele. Michael, who is the Secretary
of University of Ibadan branch of the Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM) and leading member of Education Rights Campaign (ERC), was
victimized on the basis of a false allegation.
This rustication is part of
politically-motivated plan to attack the DSM and its members for mobilizing and
leading students in struggle against management's anti-poor, neo-liberal
education policies.
We therefore call on organizations
and individuals including trade unions, human rights groups, staff unions in
universities, students unions, youth groups, activists and socialists, locally
and internationally, to demand end to the brutal attack on student activists in
University of Ibadan, and immediate and unconditional recall of Michael
Ogundele.
It all started on January 7, 2013,
when Comrade Michael was given a query letter over an allegation of misconduct
to the effect that he was found in Tedder Hall, one of the halls of residence
within the university, on January 2 in "defiance" of the university
directive that all students must vacate all halls of residence on or before
December 24, 2012.
It is instructive to state that the
query was issued exactly a week after a massive and spontaneous student protest
in which members of DSM, including comrade Michael, played a leading role and
which forced the University management to retract some of its anti-student
policies like hike in accommodation fees.
However, in both his response to the
query letter and physical appearance at the panel constituted by the school
management, Comrade Michael pleaded not guilty to the allegation of misconduct.
As a matter of fact, Comrade Michael was on Industrial Training (IT) from
December 12, 2012 to January 12, 2013 when theuniversity actually opened for
the new academic calendar. It was within the period of this IT that the university
management gave the directive that all students should vacate the hall of
residence on or before December 24, 2012 while those on IT should register for
a temporary accommodation.
In compliance with this directive,
Michael was among the first few set of IT students who on December 6, 2012,
actually registered for a temporary accommodation with the Industrial Training
Coordinating Centre (ITCC) as directed. This was with an expectation that the
application would be processed with an immediate allocation of temporary
accommodation to all registered IT students before December 24, 2012, the
deadline the University management set for all students to vacate the halls of
residence.
Given the fact that the motive
behind forcing students out of the hall of residence by the school management
was just to perfect the strategies and tactics to impose the hiked
accommodation fees and other anti-students policies like prohibition of cooking
in halls on students upon resumption, the question of immediate provision of alternative
accommodation for those who were compelled to stay behind on campus for one
academic purpose or another was not on the priority list of the university
management.
This explains why up till late hours
of January 2, 2013, no allocation for temporary accommodation was assigned. It
is this unwarranted delay in the processing of the application for the
temporary accommodation due to the negligence on the part of the university
management that created the condition why many students upon their return to
campus on January 2, 2013 after the yuletide break fell victims to a lack of
place to lay their head.
In the midst of all this situation,
Comrade Michael was able to meet a student with a similar problem who offered
him a temporary place to stay in his uncle's place off-campus pending the time
all issues connected with the temporary accommodation would be resolved. With
the temporary accommodation, Michael, decided to go to his former room to move
out his luggage, without any intention whatsoever, to continue to stay in the
room. In less than three minutes in the room, he was accosted, arrested and
detained for almost 15 hours at the university security post.
Comrade Michael was able to prove
that the negligence on the side of the university management to allocate
temporary accommodation to all registered IT students before December 24, 2012-
the deadline set for all students to vacate the halls of residence - was the
cause of his presence in the said room. Hence, the university management had to
cook-up another false allegation to justify their original plan which is the
victimization of Michael for his leading role in the struggle of students.
The university management on March
26, 2013, over a month after he had appeared before Central Students
Disciplinary Committee (CSDC), handed him a letter of rustication from the
university dated February 28, 2013. Curiously, the first paragraph of the
reads, "the Central Student Disciplinary Committee at the meeting held on
Wednesday, 27 February, 2013, considered the allegation of Examination
Misconduct leveled against you to the effect that you were found in Tedder Hall
on Wednesday, January 2, 2013, about 21.50hours, in defiance of the directive
of the University Management that all students must vacate the halls of
residence latest by 6.00pm on Monday 24th December, 2012."
Taking a look at the above-stated
allegation, there are a lot of discrepancies and contradictions between the
query letter dated January 7 2013 and the letter of rustication dated February
28 2013 upon which the decision of the committee was predicated.
First of all, there was never a time
Michael was alleged of examination misconduct. As a matter of fact, the title
of the query letter issued to him on January 7, 2013 was Allegation of Gross
Misconduct, not Examination Misconduct. How the committee suddenly changed this
original allegation to Examination Misconduct is quite surprising.
Again, how the claim of
"illegal" presence in Tedder Hall on the above-stated day became
examination misconduct is quite baffling, more so that no examination was
taking place in the hall of residence on that date.
According to (1b), page 50 of
Student Information Handbook for 2008/2009 session (28) different offences
classified as Examination Misconduct and their respective sanctions are clearly
outlined. Interestingly, none of these is "illegal presence of students in
the hall of residence at any stipulated time".
In the same Student information
handbook, the procedure for handling cases of examination misconduct is also
described in (1a) on page 50 as a process emanating from the Faculty to the
CSDC for the final determination.
As a 300L student of department of
Zoology, Faculty of science, there has never been any time Michael received any
letter of invitation to face any disciplinary committee at either department or
faculty level in any case related to examination misconduct.
But these contradictions are not
surprising or accidental. As we have pointed the entire purpose is to attack
Michael and thereby hit the DSM for our political role in students' struggles.
In line with the last paragraph of
the letter of rustication, which stipulates the right to appeal through the
Registrar to the University Governing Council within (14) days of receipt of
the letter in case of dissatisfaction with the decision of the committee,
Comrade Michael has already appealed the decision of the committee where he
called for the reversal of the decision with immediate restoration of his
studentship.
We therefore call for protest letters,
locally and internationally, to the management through the e-mail addresses
below demanding the immediate and unconditional recall of Michael Ogundele, and
an end to victimization of student activists and attack on democratic rights.
Phone calls and text messages can also be sent to the phone numbers.
Office
of Registrar
University
of Ibadan
Phone:
(+234) (2) 8750260, (+234) (2) 8750261
Dean
of Student Affairs
Phone:
(+234) 8023291617, (+234) 8054848778
Vice
Chancellor
Phone:
(+234) 8033299153
Please
also copy:
