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WE DEMAND THE OPENING OF HIS E-PORTAL PAGE BY THE PROF. ANTHONY
ELUJOBA-LED UNIVERSITY ADMINISTRATION
Press statement
The
Education Rights Campaign (ERC) condemns the deactivation of the e-portal page
of Ibukun Omole, a student activist, by the management of Obafemi Awolowo
University Ile-Ife. By deactivating the e-portal page of a student, he or she
is technically on suspension as he/she cannot register his courses for the
semester or session. But in the case of Omole Ibukun, no official disciplinary
process as laid down in the University rules was followed neither was he
invited to a panel of any kind to allow him exercise his right to fair hearing.
We
therefore consider this action of the University unjustifiable, illegal, an
abuse of office and a flagrant violation of the University rules and the
principles of natural justice. We call on the Acting Vice Chancellor of the
University, Prof. Anthony Elujoba, to direct that Ibukun’s e-portal page be
opened and halt any further plan to victimize him. Not doing this in our
opinion would mean that the Prof. Elujoba-led administration, rather than the
breath of fresh air it claims to be, is merely a continuation of the despotic
past.
Omole
Ibukun, a part five undergraduate student of the Department of Civil
Engineering, is the secretary of the OAU branch of the ERC and a member of the
Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM). For more than 3 years, Ibukun has been an
active voice on the campus against anti-poor education policies and attack on
students and workers democratic rights. He is particularly being victimized for
his leading role in the campaign for the probe of the immediate past tyrannical
Vice Chancellor of the University, Prof. Bamitale Omole who was involved in
multiple cases of mismanagement of fund as well as attack on democratic rights.
Ibukun also played a prominent role in the struggles of the staff unions which
forced the Federal Government to dissolve the corrupt Governing Council and
terminate the appointment of Bamitale Omole’s protégé, Prof. Ayobami Salami, as
Vice Chancellor and his subsequent replacement by Prof. Elujoba in acting
capacity.
This
despotic act which was implemented in February 2016 by the immediate-past Prof.
Bamitale Omole University administration is currently being upheld by the Prof.
Anthony Elujoba administration in a manner that does not portray any striking
difference from the structure that was ousted by the struggles of non-academic
staff and students recently, for the new administrators to take power.
While the e-portal access page of a
student remains necessary for registering for new sessions, checking of results
of past examinations, amongst other uses, the e-portal access page of Ibukun
Omole remains inaccessible and keeps stating that he has committed an offence.
Meanwhile, the university rules demand that anyone who is alleged to have
committed an offence will be required to reply to a query first, and if the
reply is insufficient, such students are invited to appear before an
investigative panel before any letter of suspension or other disciplinary
actions can be issued. Yet, the Obafemi Awolowo University administration
disobeyed this law, as this student (Omole Ibukun) was not invited to any
investigative panel for the sake of fair-hearing neither was any letter of
suspension or any other form of disciplinary action issued to him.
Instead, Omole Ibukun was queried on 24
February 2016 on account of posts the University alleged he wrote on his
facebook wall which, according to the query letter, “were understood to mean
that the distinguished members of the Senate of the University are men and women
of little reason and are not deserving of any respect”, and that these
purported posts are “misconduct contrary to... the Code of Conduct of the
University Community”. Omole Ibukun in his prompt response to this query denied
authorship of the alleged posts since within the period the said posts
allegedly appeared on his facebook wall, he had lost access to his facebook
account in a manner suspicious of the handiwork of hackers and he had
subsequently warned friends on his contact list not to respond to any
solicitous messages from the said account. Since February 25, 2016 when he
submitted his response, he has not heard anything officially from the
authorities. He was not subsequently invited to an investigative or
disciplinary panel as would be the case, in accordance with University rules,
if his response to the query was found insufficient. All he realized was that
subsequently he lost access to his e-portal page, something which he initially
attributed to a technical glitch.
The current
effect of this act on the student is demonstrated by his inability to register
for the last academic session in the school, and to access and view the results
of the previous academic session.
The ERC
considers the continuous deactivation of Ibukun Omole’s e-portal page which is
tantamount to deprivation of his studentship status as an attempt to keep him
at the mercy of the management for the rest of his stay on campus so that he
would not be able to continue to challenge the University’s anti-poor education
policies. We hereby call on students and workers of the University to oppose
this victimization of Omole Ibukun and start to lawfully and politically
pressurize the university management to amend its ways.
Hassan
Taiwo Soweto Michael Ogundele
National
Coordinator (07033697259)
National Secretary
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