University Of Lagos Students’ Union (ULSU) Protest: The True Story - Education - Nairaland
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| University Of Lagos Students’ Union (ULSU) Protest: The True Story by dharyour93(m): 11:15am On Apr 13, 2016 |
The protests staged by the University of Lagos Students’ Union (ULSU) on Wednesday 6th, Thursday 7th and Friday 8th April, 2016 have got many people talking nationwide, with speculations here and there about what led to the protests. It is important to explain the situations that led to the protest to clear the air. On Tuesday 5th April 2016, there was a meeting of student leaders comprising ULSU Executives, Principal Officers of ULSU Parliament and Honourable members, Faculty Presidents, Halls of Residence Chairmen/Chairpersons and other stakeholders (66 leaders attended the meeting). The meeting held at the Parliament Building (Chambers) of the Union and it started at about 6pm. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the salient issues affecting students of the University at large and some actions that leaders can take concerning the betterment of the welfare of the students. We were also to discuss the idea of staging a ‘National Protest’ at the 3rd Mainland Bridge to express our displeasure with the economic situations in the country. At the meeting, after several deliberations, it was unanimously agreed that instead of staging a national protest to address issues affecting the whole nation, we (student leaders) should match to the Management to ask questions concerning all the issues affecting us in this school; that we should first of all solve our immediate problems on campus before solving national problems. Issues of Water, Hike in prices of commodities, Pre-requisite, Power, Accommodation/Shodeinde Hall, Sports Centre, and Ambulance among others came up. We decided to do the matching the following day - Wednesday 6th April by 12noon. On Wednesday, student leaders started gathering at the Students’ Union Building at about 12noon and eventually left at about 2pm – less than 25 leaders started; some faculties were reached to gather more leaders before matching to the Senate. By the time we got to the Senate, nobody attended to us until later in the evening when the new Deputy Vice Chancellor (DVC), Academic and Research – Prof Oluwatoyin Ogundipe appeared at the scene of the protest in front of the Main Auditorium to address us, but by that time, more students had joined us and we insisted that it is the Vice Chancellor that we want to see, not the DVC. From that moment till we dispersed, no one else from the Management attended to us. The protest continued the following day – Thursday at about 8am; we went round the school, moving from one Faculty to another, everything was peaceful. After several hours of waiting at the Senate building with nobody to attend to us, it got to a point where students became angrier because the VC is not attending to us. I sent a message to the Dean of Student Affairs (DSA) at exactly 10:45am that we have been patient enough and if we do not see him or the VC in 5minutes, we would proceed to lock up the gate; (we didn't want to lock up the gate) we did because he didn't show up. At about 12:30pm, after a few hours at the gate, we got a LagMobile message that referred to the Union as ‘a group of studnts’, that we are not law abiding and we are ‘hell bent on disrupting d academic calenda’; this infuriated the entire protesting students the more and we once again proceeded to the Senate while the gate was still locked. We were at the Senate till about 6pm when a delegation of the Senate led by Prof Akin Oyebode of the Faculty of Law came to address us. In the course of his address, after the President of the Union – Comr. Muhammed Olaniyan and the Speaker of the Parliament - Rt. Hon. Adeyanju Adeonipekun told him about our demands, he made a statement that the Senate is not even aware of some of the things being said, whereas these are issues that the Union has discussed with both the DSA and the VC on several occasions. The students at this point also insisted that they want to be addressed by the VC himself, to hear from the horse’s mouth. The delegation left as if they would go and come back with the VC, but they did not. We were at the Senate till about 9pm before we dispersed. We woke up the next Morning - Friday to hear the news of the arrest of the President of our Union and the PRO – Jumai Fabuyi by the Ojuelegba ‘Area C’ Police Command, their phones and the Union bus were seized (The bus is still with the Police till now). Not just that, we also got LagMobile message that every student should vacate the Hostels by 10am and that the school has been closed down. An ‘Armoured Personnel Carrier’. (APC) and heavily armed Police men were also sighted in the school premises. The news of the arrest/closure of the school left the students in shock because we really did not envisage all that; all we wanted to do is to ask questions about the welfare issues affecting us as students of the University. Students trooped out en mass to demand for the release of the student leaders and demanded that the school be re-opened because we feel that our demands are not too much to ask for, and not too hard for the Management to attend to. The school gates were locked again, the President was released and he joined us to demand for the re-opening of the school. The Police vehicles inside the school were also driven out and they all parked at the entrance of the school. While at the gate, the Police APC broke open the main gate of the University twice, about two students sustained minor injuries in the process. When we realised that some students were already risking their lives by passing through the canal and other means in an attempt to leave school and go home, we opened the gate for those that want to leave. Gradually, we dispersed. What baffles the Union till this moment is the fact that students staged a very peaceful protest inside the school for three days and the DSA or any of his Deputies did not come out to address us; it has never happened in the history of this University. Instead of them to address us, they prefer to adopt a Media War strategy against the Union; they are trying to pitch the student populace against the Union and render the Union useless; they are digressing from the issues we are raising and trying to divert attention towards irrelevant subjects. It is very unfortunate. What we think, based on how the events unfolded, is that it is possible that the Management had been looking for an excuse to shut down the school and they see this as an opportunity. If not, how do we explain a situation where instead of the Management to listen to us, they prefer to level all kinds of allegations against our Union; They said our request for a befitting gate is 'poetic', that we wanted the VC out of office and not really the gate - the befitting gate was a mere request, they could decide to do it and they could decide not to. The reason for the request was based on security concerns, that if we could have a gate that has security cameras and other safety measures in place, it would be good. Why would we even want the VC out of office when there were no allegations (proven or not proven) against him?; They said what we are fighting for is the Bus, and not the welfare of the students - we have evidence to back up the fact that that request was the 3rd request for a bus from the Management, why are they holding on to this particular one and not talking about the others? The first time we requested for a bus was 19th January, the second time was 23rd February, every student that is conversant with the activities of the Union will understand our need for a bus; They said we directed the Executives of Cab Operators to Abdicate office, that is not true. What we did was to advice the Executives based on the letter of request that we got in a letter dated 7th March and signed by 117 out of about 150 Cab operators that their Executives have over stayed in office. We had even settled the matter with the Executives of the cab operators before all these happened. We have evidences to back up all these. They said we 'violently disrupted classes', that we harassed lecturers; They said some of us are being investigated for theft and thurgery, that we teamed up with some students that are being investigated for forgery and all; all these are laughable, really. Many students can attest to it that no lecturer was harassed; in fact, they co-operated with us when we entered their classes because most of them are in support of this struggle. Also, no executive of ULSU is being investigated for theft or thurgery, the school management that we know would have arrested any student for questioning even before they say it out; besides, no student would be allowed to contest for any position in this school if s/he is under investigation or is found wanting. So, those allegations are baseless. As always, we are ready for a discussion with the management because as far as we are concerned, we are not 'fighting' them, we are only asking them to attend to our Welfare matters as students of this great citadel of learning. Now, the Union appreciates you (yes, you) for your support so far, we are all in this struggle together and we shall be victorious by the Grace of God. No harassment or intimidation can deter us. Continue to be patient, the school will soon be re-opened. Thank you very much. Aluta Continua! Victoria Ascerta! Signed: Hon. Comr. Emmanuel Afolabi (#AFOO) General Secretary, #ULSU [size=3pt]Cc lalasticlala seun[/size] |
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