Remembering Afrika 18 years later The memories of July 10, 1999 will never cease in the Obafemi Awolowo University memory. It will forever remain fresh as it is passed on from generation to generation while we commemorate tribute to the founding father of Great Ife Students Unionism for many reasons. George Iwilade Afrika who was hacked to pieces by members of the Black Axe Confraternity in alliance with other neighbouring cult groups wasn’t just the only victim of the bloodshed. Four other roommates (Eviano Ekelemu; a graduating student, Yemi Ajiteru; 100-Level Philosophy student, Babatunde Oke, and Ekpede Godfrey) were murdered in their sleep, as the group came for the then president of the Union, Lanre Legacy. Prof. Roger Makanjuola account is even more descriptive: “Tunde Oke was still alive but died in the surgical theatre. Four others, George Iwilade, Yemi Ajiteru, Efe Ekede and Eviano Ekelemu, were brought in dead. Eviano Ekelemu bled to death from gunshot wounds to the groin and thigh. The other three died from gunshot wounds to the head.” Lanre Adeleke, (Lanre Legacy), the then Student Union President, was reported to have fled before his assailants unleashed terror in the early hours of the morning of July 10 though he was shot at. It is reported that he escaped by jumping from a balcony when the menacing cult groups came for him after murdering Iwilade in cold blood. The product of that horrific past is the vibrant union Great Ife currently emboders. However, 18 years after this sorry tale, stability has continued to elude Great Ife, not just in policies alone but in the Union which was borne by concerted selfless leaders who fought for consciousness of the Union from the hands of cult groups encouraged by University Administrators as forceful enforcers of University policy on the great mass of poor students unable to dare the management. Like Nigeria’s numerous problems, Great Ife has also had hers. Democracy can only be sustained in a pro-democratic ambience, but that vibrancy once associated with Ife has continued to waiver 18 years down the line. The school has had her recent share of events, with the current Union President accused of doctoring the Congresses of Great Ife Students, as well as engaging in white cement projects like the back and forth issue of the red student Union Bus. A bus that has been declared unfit for transportation (in one of its numerous reports) and fraudulent with all manner of accusations at the Doctor President, as well as attacks on his person and the divide and rule system; questions are bound to be asked. Is OAU truly honouring Afrika’s legacy? Still, of recent, former acting Vice Chancellor’s case, Prof. Anthony Elujoba has resurfaced for alleged fraud. Prof. Anthony Elujoba who has been christened thus ‘as the man of the people’ for granting prompt payments of owed arrears to staff and a stable academic calendar, is now hanging in a battle of morality and the humbling weights of the law. The major product of unrest Great Ife has continually faced from the past tenure of Student Leadership Governments have always emanated from welfare. It is a shame that the once Great “Great Ife” is now riddled with bed bugs driving students from their hostel rooms to the corridors to sleep. While lecturers drive down difficult concepts down their throats in lecture theatres in the day, students battle rats, bedbugs, and dangerous reptiles in their halls at night. The University compound has become a war zone where students are exploited, cheated by drivers of the campus shuttles, exorbitant prices of goods and services, dwindling factors of infrastructure, welfare and the moribund state of OAU healthcare delivery. Still on July 10th every year, Students gather in their numbers to celebrate the birth of consciousness and failure of Student leaders. The Student Union is a pressure group, a successor of Modern Governments. If the Leader cannot be accountable for a 2.9 Million Naira bus which has been adjudged in many quarters of the students body not to be more than 2.5 Million naira, what then is the essence of a 9 Million Naira subvention that cannot be used to better lives of the Student masses and the electorate that brought those leaders into power? “At 21, young and still very active, George Iwilade Afrika was murdered. He was murdered advocating for a cult free environment. One that all Great Ife Students enjoy today, till the end of their academic stay. Today, the freedom of combing the campus in the early hours of the day is uncontrolled, unrestricted because of one man who sacrificed his life for others to have peace.” What legacies shall we then live behind for Afrika and the OAU 5 as we remember them 18 years down the line? These are questions we must answer and unmask very fast. The death of consciousness is the rise of tyranny; for the commemorators and beneficiaries of these process must consider this questions and provide due answers. The post Remembering Afrika 18 years later appeared first on The Nation Nigeria.

The memories of July 10, 1999 will never cease in the Obafemi Awolowo University memory. It will forever remain fresh as it is passed on from generation to generation while we commemorate tribute to the founding father of Great Ife Students Unionism for many reasons.

George Iwilade Afrika who was hacked to pieces by members of the Black Axe Confraternity in alliance with other neighbouring cult groups wasn’t just the only victim of the bloodshed.

Four other roommates (Eviano Ekelemu; a graduating student, Yemi Ajiteru; 100-Level Philosophy student, Babatunde Oke, and Ekpede Godfrey) were murdered in their sleep, as the group came for the then president of the Union, Lanre  Legacy.

Prof. Roger Makanjuola account is even more descriptive: “Tunde Oke was still alive but died in the surgical theatre. Four others, George Iwilade, Yemi Ajiteru, Efe Ekede and Eviano Ekelemu, were brought in dead. Eviano Ekelemu bled to death from gunshot wounds to the groin and thigh. The other three died from gunshot wounds to the head.”

Lanre Adeleke, (Lanre Legacy), the then Student Union President, was reported to have fled before his assailants unleashed terror in the early hours of the morning of July 10 though he was shot at. It is reported that he escaped by jumping from a balcony when the menacing cult groups came for him after murdering Iwilade in cold blood.

The product of that horrific past is the vibrant union Great Ife currently emboders. However, 18 years after this sorry tale, stability has continued to elude Great Ife, not just in policies alone but in the Union which was borne by concerted selfless leaders who fought for consciousness of the Union from the hands of cult groups encouraged by University Administrators as forceful enforcers of University policy on the great mass of poor students unable to dare the management.

Like Nigeria’s numerous problems, Great Ife has also had hers. Democracy can only be sustained in a pro-democratic ambience, but that vibrancy once associated with Ife has continued to waiver 18 years down the line. The school has had her recent share of events, with the current Union President accused of doctoring the Congresses of Great Ife Students, as well as engaging in white cement projects like the back and forth issue of the red student Union Bus. A bus that has been declared unfit for transportation (in one of its numerous reports) and fraudulent with all manner of accusations at the Doctor President, as well as attacks on his person and the divide and rule system; questions are bound to be asked.

 Is OAU truly honouring Afrika’s legacy?

Still, of recent, former acting Vice Chancellor’s case, Prof. Anthony Elujoba has resurfaced for alleged fraud. Prof. Anthony Elujoba who has been christened thus ‘as the man of the people’ for granting prompt payments of owed arrears to staff and a stable academic calendar, is now hanging in a battle of morality and the humbling weights of the law.  The major product of unrest Great Ife has continually faced from the past tenure of Student Leadership Governments have always emanated from welfare. It is a shame that the once Great “Great Ife” is now riddled with bed bugs driving students from their hostel rooms to the corridors to sleep. While lecturers drive down difficult concepts down their throats in lecture theatres in the day, students battle rats, bedbugs, and dangerous reptiles in their halls at night.

The University compound has become a war zone where students are exploited, cheated by drivers of the campus shuttles, exorbitant prices of goods and services, dwindling factors of infrastructure, welfare and the moribund state of OAU healthcare delivery.

Still on July 10th every year, Students gather in their numbers to celebrate the birth of consciousness and failure of Student leaders. The Student Union is a pressure group, a successor of Modern Governments. If the Leader cannot be accountable for a 2.9 Million Naira bus which has been adjudged in many quarters of the students body not to be more than 2.5 Million naira, what then is the essence of a 9 Million Naira subvention that cannot be used to better lives of the Student masses and the electorate that brought those leaders into power?

“At 21, young and still very active, George Iwilade Afrika was murdered. He was murdered advocating for a cult free environment. One that all Great Ife Students enjoy today, till the end of their academic stay. Today, the freedom of combing the campus in the early hours of the day is uncontrolled, unrestricted because of one man who sacrificed his life for others to have peace.”

What legacies shall we then live behind for Afrika and the OAU 5 as we remember them 18 years down the line?

These are questions we must answer and unmask very fast. The death of consciousness is the rise of tyranny; for the commemorators and beneficiaries of these process must consider this questions and provide due answers.

The post Remembering Afrika 18 years later appeared first on The Nation Nigeria.