Admin l Monday, June 05, 2017
IKEJA, Lagos, Nigeria – Ojo Aderemi, president of the University of Ibadan Students Union, says the vice chancellor of the school insulted former president Goodluck Jonathan and nothing happened but expelled a student for abusing him.
Speaking at a press conference over the weekend Aderemi said the Idowu Olayinka, UI VC, does not tolerate any form of dissent from students.
“When I eventually met the VC, I told him that students, the kind of view they have of this vice chancellor is that he is just a vice chancellor that doesn’t care; he would kick you out of the University if you raise a dissenting voice, which is what has been happening,” Aderemi said.
“These are academic individuals who blasted Goodluck Jonathan during and before the election. But then a student wrote an article on the students’ union page, on Facebook and the boy has been expelled right now.
“They said he abused the vice chancellor. Oh yes, he abused the vice chancellor but immediately showed remorse. Your father won’t expel you for being rude, he won’t kill you. Quite alright, it is wrong but the boy wrote a letter, involved his parents, prostrated to the vice chancellor.
“On the day of the student disciplinary committee, he was rolling on the ground, and he was expelled just like that.”
The SU president added that the school, which was shut by the university authorities will not begin examinations until the identity cards, which have been paid for are made available.
“As regards that, the power we rely on is the power of democracy. I can assure you that exams will not be written in that school if they don’t get ID cards.
“Basically, for these reasons: There are several students on campus who have been assaulted and embarrassed of campus on these issue of ID cards. Secondly, there are students who are supposed to receive scholarships who couldn’t scan their ID cards and send, even outside Nigeria.
“I have friends, one of them is here, he went to Boston to represent the country, that $8,000 was going to be disbursed from Hultz Business School, but they don’t have ID cards to claim it. Students are really angry.
“It is not our own doing. We inherited this crisis, and we have tried our best. As regards the suspension of the students’ union, by every legitimate means, the union will be brought back.”
He added that himself and the leaders of the students’ union and students’ representative councils are now targets of victimisation by the authorities.
“I cannot survive in a university where there is no union. I can’t. It’s not possible. But then as regards that suspension, its one of the easiest things to be done right now,” he added.
“The only issue is that we are targets. We haven’t committed any crime, we haven’t done anything but we are targets. So that is one of the future possibilities we are looking at.”
