Twenty years ago, Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State Students’ Union, General Secretary, Comrade George Iwilade, AKA Afrika, and four others were killed on the campus by cultists. To students, the bloody incident led to the peace being enjoyed in OAU. To mark the 20th anniversary, they are calling on management to immortalise the martyrs and deproscribe the Students Union. But management says it wants a “refined union”. OMOLOLA AFOLABI and OMOTOSHO OMOWUMI ADETUNJI.
The killing of George Iwilade, aka Afrika, who was the general secretary of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State Students’ Union (SU) and four others is still being remembered as if it happened yesterday.
Since they were cut down in their prime on July 10, 1999, by cultists at the Obafemi Awolowo Hall of the institution, management and students have not forgotten these martyrs.
Past and present students’ union leaders and individuals turned out in large numbers to mark the 20th anniversary at the university’s Amphi Theatre last Wednesday.
The Vice Chancellor, Prof Eyitayo Ogunmodede, was represented by the Dean of Students’ Affairs, Prof Ishiaq Aransiola. The occasion provided an avenue for attendees to demand the resuscitation of the SU.
About two years ago, management proscribed the SU for what it described as “lack of leadership quality and an atmosphere of violence.” Management says it is favourably disposed towards de-proscribing the union, but it wants a virile and intellectually-driven students’ body, interested in constructive criticism.
The three-day commemoration event began on July 8 with the signing of the condolence register, anti-cult parade and a film show at Awo café, climaxed on Wednesday with a symposium with the theme: Scars of Injustice.
One after the other, the students’ leaders mounted the podium to reflect on the gory incident and how it has ensured the entrenchment of peace on OAU campus in the last two decades. The students also said it’s about time management erected a monument in honour of Iwilade and others.
Students’ leaders speak
Comrade Lanre Adeleke, popularly known as Lanre Legacy under whose tenure as SU president of OAU the incident occurred, recounted the sordid details and how he escaped by hair’s breath.
“There were some activities on the eve of July 10th that left most students tired. Fortunately, I was awoken by a lady some moments before the attack. At this point, I wasn’t deeply asleep anymore. Later on, I heard a gunshot and later realised cultists had invaded Awolowo hall. I ran into the corridor and in the company of a medical student. We both maneuvered our way using the railings.
“After the attack had subsided, we came into the room and found Afrika and the other students in a pool of their own blood.
“A Congress was called to embark on an investigation that would lead to the arrest of these criminals. Between July 10th and 20th, 33 of the 48 cultists were apprehended. The Federal Government later set up a committee of enquiry to investigate the matter, the then vice chancellor was recommended for trial but nothing was done.”
He described Afrika as a ‘loyal general secretary’.
Adeleke lamented that the unionism of those days are poles apart from what obtains today. Using the gory event as an example, he recalled how, as students, they marshalled out strategies which led to the arrest of the perpetrator and other accomplices.
He said: “It is irresponsible students that move anyhow; we didn’t do that. Rather, we moved with policemen from Osogbo here, we moved with police from Moro (in Ife), went straight to the University of Lagos where we lodged at the university’s guest house to be able to capture the ring leader. We didn’t go in group. It was an intelligent thing and we were able to get the ring leader’s location. I then urged the police and the regular battalion that accompanied us to wait because I had my own Plan B, C, and D. I had to disguise into the building. While making an enquiry, the lady guiding us sighted him and told me that is the person we were looking for. It was then the policemen came in and apprehended him.
“We then took him back to the university guest house where he made useful confessions and gave us a comprehensive list of other perpetrators, which tallied with the information in our custody’’.
Adeleke said he is already putting the account of the detail in a book form, promising that come next year, the material will be on the shelf.
Iwilade’s younger brother Akintayo, said making sacrifices was synonymous with his late brother.
“The issue of sacrifice is not new to Afrika, and I will give instances, said Akintayo, a lawyer.
“When Afrika was still waiting for admission, he took up teaching as vocation. The school where he worked was cash strapped and the school owner couldn’t pay workers. Afrika wrote a letter to the school owner that his meagre salary should be used to pay other staff. I still have the copy of the letter.
“Another instance was when he was arrested alongside Lanre Legacy, Adebayo Yahaya and other student activists. Afrika was granted bail but he refused to leave until others were released.
“The story of Afrika has pushed me further into activism,” said Olowolafe Dunsin, the chairman of OAU Students Union Action Committee.
He continued: “As is the tradition, at the time I resumed, they gave us orientation about some issues in the past. On hearing this story of Afrika, it is not possible not to be emotional. I did my findings and came to the realisation that the event, aside its truism, also increases the level of security and freedom we currently enjoyed on the campus.
“We need to keep on defending the (Afrika) legacy, as it is the only way we can achieve optimal security on campus. Our campus has been at peace until lately the reverse is seemingly the case and that is because of the attack on the union. “
Dunsin similarly recalled how the action committee in OAU came as a child of necessity.
He said: “The action committee came into being during the last SU administration led by Edward Ibukun Omole. At the time, students’ welfare was at its lowest ebb. So, a congress of students constituted an action committee to be in charge of students’ affairs whether the union was ready or not to take up the challenges being experienced by students. Omole was impeached and the union proscribed by the management. However, under the Constitution of Nigeria, freedom of association is guaranteed. It is then the Action Committee became the face of the students.”
Dunsin’s predecessor Gbenga Oloniniran, popularly known as Gbenga Von, who graduated from the Department of Geography in 2019, argued that management’s desire for a responsible union is mere wishful thinking, as long as SU remains unconscious.
He said: “The management of OAU is not the determinant of a responsible union because it belongs to the students. Besides, management cannot find a responsible one by clamping down on that union. You can’t know a responsible union when you don’t even allow the union to thrive. Having a responsible union has been the same old story of the management for suspending the union since two years ago’’.
Oloniniran also spoke on the essence of the event.
“The event of July 10, as dreadful as it was, remains one of the prominent incidents that made Ife to be great. It did not only sanctify our campus of vices, it has equally sustained unending consciousness and greatness since 20 years of the attack. It has been 20 years of a sacred greatness that is globally envied and reckoned with.
“Well, the university community may have been doing their best since 20 years to honour the memories of Afrika and OAU four who died for the peace we enjoy till today. The university might equally put up structures in a bid to immortalise them. But to me, Afrika and the four others are best immortalised in our hearts by sustaining the legacies they left behind,” he submitted.
A former general secretary of OAU–SU, Comrade, Louis Awode, described Afrika as the voice of the oppressed to all Nigerian students.
His words: “Afrika represents the totality of unionism. His death was significant because he had been targeted for long because of his uncommon brand of unionism”.
Awode recalled that the death of OAU five happened during a transition period which remains significant in the political annals of Nigeria. He said the peaceful atmosphere in OAU and other campuses can be correctly attributed to the massacre as students rose up with fire brand energy to fight cultism across campuses.
OAU students speak
Also, Gbenga Odetoyinbo, a final year Mechanical Engineering undergraduate, supported the reinstatement of students’ union, urging management to also erect a monument in his honour.
He said: ‘’Students’ Union (in OAU), should be reinstated. What Afrika did made us enjoy the peace and security on campus today. Afrika should be honoured with a monument for people to see, ask questions and get answer.’’
Another 400-Level student of English Omole Daniel, also toed Odetoyinbo’s line.
“Students’ Union should be reinstated and Africa should be honoured more than this yearly remembrance.’’
Others such as the university’s Chief Security Officer Mr Tunde Opadotu Soetan who is regarded as the father of OAU aluta, Tomi Olagunju a lawyer, Dr Kehinde Ajila who is one time vice president of OAU SU. Other past executive members of OAU, as well as members of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), all put their feet down on reviving students’ activism in the institution.
Nonetheless, the Dean of Students Affairs Prof Aransola, noted that management is desirous of a refined SU.
He said: “We have plans to reinstate the students’ union as soon as possible. If you knew the kind of union we last had, we ourselves were afraid not only as lecturers but parents. They were breaking bottles and head-butting each other even within the university. According to rules, it supposed to be suspension of such persons but we didn’t do that.
“Before we reinstate students’ union, we are going to do a lot of leadership training. Our students’ unions have always been intelligent and that is what we used to have in the past. It is our best interest to have a responsible Students’ Union.
“OAU students union is reputed to be one of the most vocal set of intellectuals we have on Nigerian campuses, this is the crop of leaders we want to bring back. We would organise leadership training for the prospective leaders before the commencement of their administration in order to nip any kind of misconduct in the bud,” Aransiola concluded.