BATTLE OF WITS: OAU SU
LEADERSHIP SPLITS(Exclusiv e)
When i read Olori's Press
statement today,i laughed
heartily,before you nail me for
saying i laughed heartily,i
laughed because the division
in the leadership of OAU SU
started months ago.I have
been monitoring situations
and i knew it would get to this
but not wanting to be the
whistle blower i decided to lay
low.
Do you all remember that when
IBK was contesting for
Presidency there were claims
that the mgt sponsored him?
Do you remember that Mandela
was denied participation in the
election?
The scenarios above were
beginning of cracks in the OAU
SU,inspite of efforts of the
disqualified candidates to unite
with IBK so the govt will be all
inclusive the unity i always
knew wouldnt last for long.
IBK never wanted to protest,he
only gave in due to pressure,i
mean enormous pressure.
I once caught the SU welfare
director Ojogbon saying OAU
suffers from what we call
congressional resolution,he
expressed bitterness at the
process.
I also heard claims that the
Social Director of the SU
commented in same vain.
The actions of Olori in
releasing a press statement is
quite commendable,but on
the other hand whether we
like it or not,the release has
created a problem that may
take a decade to solve for the
SU already,at this time of crisis
in OAU we need a united force
to fight the mgt,but tell me
where the united force is.
We all know that the mgt is
watching and monitoring
situations of things and will be
ready to cash in now that the
SU is in disarray.
The battle line drawn by
Olori,though she says it isnt a
ploy to divide the union may
boomerang and swallow the
union.Will she come out
tommorow again to say IBK is
the best?will they trust each
and work formidably?
I fault the release not be cause
its unfair,but because it maybe
catastrophic to our fragile
union.The issues raised in the
statement if genuine are
worthy of condemnation,Ol ori
supported IBK well enough
during the protests,why will he
now grow wings and become
autocratic?
A law student of his calibre
should know the rights of
surbodinates and should act
more lawfully.Howeve r the call
for his removal may mean
#OAU will remain closed longer
than we expect,because if he is
really a mgt candidate,to
unseat him may mean to
unseat the union.
A house divided against itself
will not stand.Will OAU SU
stand? Am scared,am
scared,this maybe the Tsunami
that will carry the SU that we
fought for.I respect Olori,but
your silence should have
remained till issues
surrounding #OAU fee hike
has been resolved.Now we've
played ourselves into the mgt
hands and they will surely bite
us hard.
Who even knows how many
excos have grudges against
the current President but
wouldnt voice out? Is this the
union we've always wanted?
OAU students are always
intellectual fighters but can we
call ourselves intellectual
fighters when we lack
intellectual Leaders?
Now the OAU SU Bus saga is
yet to settle,no we are
witnessing the release of
Olori,Engels also released a
statement today,maybe the
PRO Bamidele will release his
own tommorow and Shittu will
also release a statement,there
by leaving OAU students in a
state of confusion.
I have noticed with keen
interest the repetitive press
release of OAU Leadership
concerning the struggle,there
hasnt been any new
development since the July 18
or 19 press release,the SU has
been recycling that same press
statement to make subsequent
releases,who is fooling who?
Yes,the senate met,but the
senate will always meet to
discuss issues concerning the
school.
While i am not supporting
anybody in this case,i believe
that the SU Leadership should
stop the infighting and sheath
their sword before it damages
the prestige of our SU.A word
is enought for the wise as
posterity will judge us all.

OLORI (VP) FINALLY SPEAKS OUT
WHEN SILENCE IS NO LONGER
GOLDEN
“Tell no lies, claim no easy
victory; just say it
the way it is… (Amilcar Cabral)”
“We must speak the truth even
if our voice
shakes… (Olori)”
The receipt of the recent gift of
bus from
Senator Iyiola Omisore, by the
leadership of the union, has
generated a number of
deserved criticisms on the
social media – especially Great
Ife facebook page platforms.
Several have accused the
leadership of the union of
shameful conducts and
condemned the gift as a Greek
gift. I wish to state clearly and
officially that the reception of
the bus was not discussed in
any leadership meeting of the
Union known to me, especially
the CEC meeting.
Hence, no responsibility can be
apportioned to me as part of
the elected leaders of Great Ife
Students’ Union who received
the controversial gift. On
principle and personal opinion,
the collection of this bus is
condemnable and brings to
mud the values of Great Ife
students’ union. In fact, sober
lessons from our struggle
against current fee regime
instruct that such a bus should
have been rejected on ground
of commonsense-jud gment,
at least not during this
electioneering period. Besides,
a receipt of
such gift requires SRC
ratification and
patronizing inscription should
not be seen on
the body of such gift.
Before now, I have held the
view that it will do lesser good
to express some of my
dissatisfaction s and agony on
the social media because of my
direct constitutional
responsibility to the Congress
of students. But it is clear that
with the continual closure of
school, things will only be
drifting from worse to worst if
students are left in the dark. I
stand with Great Ife students
on the reproach of the gift and
its receipt.
Leadership is only meant to
succeed on discipline and
focus. The “Union Bus saga” to
me speaks more of the state of
our current struggle than the
bus itself.
The same method which has
grounded our
struggle for a while now
precipitated the
receipt of the bus too. New
methods that have
been announced by the union
leadership are
only pronounced at meetings,
without room for debate
because they are inviolable.
In fact I get
stunned coming across most
of these decisions and
methods on the social media.
This particular practice has
hindered critical debates and
intellection over strange
positions of the union
“leadership”. At times, my
confrontation with other
executive council members of
the union over new methods
were greeted with the most
ridiculous accusation that “I
wanted to be
President or that I am used by
the Ideologues”.
My new nickname in CEC
meeting is Judas or
Students’ informant (But I
wonder who to
inform, if not Great Ife students
themselves).
At this point, I believe students
should mount
calls – more resonant than the
bus cries – that the leadership
of the union should re-open
the struggle against fee-hike
and for reopening of the
university, instead of selling us
cheaply to everybody who has
cash at hand. The closure of
the school as I believe is a
tactic to frustrate our spirit at
home and create confusion
over the correctness of our
battle. Great Ife, we are correct
that poor parents should not
bear the brunt of a failed
government.
We are also correct that we will
not service the pouch of our
second “parents” whose
offices are in the Senate
building. We are correct that
the tradition of Great Ife
Students’ Union for the
defense of the future and
upholding of societal ideals
must be reiterated again this
time.
But to achieve this, we must
look beyond the
‘maradonic’ updates that
confuse the state of
the struggle. As a union officer,
I have been
asking these questions from
my colleagues in
the CEC: “Why are our plans for
externalized
actions struck out? Why do we
have to shelve
an Ibadan planned action for a
grandiose
protest in Abuja (which has
remained as a
mere imagination)? Why must
‘leadership’
distant itself from the NANS
ultimatum to OAU
management, when we all
attended the Zone-D congress
in Ibadan and were quite
aware of the debates and
resolutions of the Congress
among other questions?” The
frequent answer I get is: “we
will rather beg, crawl, lobby, to
achieve negotiation, reduction
or re-opening of the
school.”
While I am not against
negotiation and
reopening, I believe
management is not stupid
to severe their self-satisfying
interest only
because of our wails. Only our
tenacious action – the type
which threw the university
echelon into confusion during
our protest in June – can force
these elements to meet our
demands, or even respect us
on the negotiation table.
In conclusion, I do not believe
this is the end of the road for
the values of our union. We are
only being tested and we will
come out
victorious as usual. However,
my current
disagreement with some of my
colleagues in
the leadership is not a ploy of
division; rather it is a clear
stance of principle which will
be
judged by posterity and future
history.
“My time will pass, your time
will pass, but the history we
make as a generation will
remain long after we are
gone… (Great Ife paradigm)”
ALUTA CONTINUA… VICTORIA
ASCERTA.
Olori,
Vice-President
Great Ife Students’ Union