Murder in the citadel

Precisely on Tuesday 11th 2023, the unthinkable happened in Great Ife, as a student was mobbed, beaten up and killed with bare hands, by his fellow students. Their banal excuse was that he allegedly stole a mobile phone.

They snuffed life out of him, killed his dreams and threw his family into everlasting mourning and disarray.

They spilled blood upon the rich heritage of a university known worldwide as the birthplace of giants, moulders of destinies of distinguished personalities and builders of men and women of great accomplishments. Here are the facts of this gruesome act.

Okoli Ahize, a 500-level student of the university was accosted by fellow students at the Obafemi Awolowo Hall for allegedly stealing a mobile phone in the said hall of residence. A mob of about 10-15 students descended on him, beating him to a state of unconsciousness.

He was confirmed dead in the university hospital. Awo Hall is one of the biggest halls of residence in the university, boasting itself as the headquarters of “Aluta”, a phrase adopted for progressive students’ revolutionary struggles.

Most of the protests embarked upon by students were initiated in Awo Hall, where leaders of the Students Union usually reside. I stayed in Awo Hall in my first year on campus as a freshman (Jambite) and I also stayed in the same hall as President of the Students’ Union, so I am very familiar with the history and importance of Awo Hall.

According to Wikipedia, “Obafemi Awolowo University is known as the “Jerusalem” of Aluta because of the antecedents of her students in vibrant and radical unionism over the years.”

The usual practice was for students to convert the steel railings of their balconies into some kind of alarm by hitting spoons and other metal objects to summon students for an emergency gathering. The students would then converge at the Potter’s Lodge in the main hall and they would normally decide the course of action.

Once Awo Hall has been fully mobilized and ready, they proceed to mobilize other students in the other halls of residence and you can be sure that Aluta has commenced. Cultists and criminals had no place in Awo Hall, which had a very rich history of zero tolerance for betrayals, stooges and collaborators.

At all times during my stay in Awo Hall, the students demonstrated uncommon courage, a sense of justice and equity and provided a reliable base for the execution of progressive ideas of the students. So, what could have happened that such a rich heritage was bastardized and denigrated by this cruel act of inhumanity? Can this still be the same university that we attended and boast of openly?

The history of this great institution is itself very rich and unique, some of which I will share with you, based upon information gathered from its website and that of Wikipedia.

History of the University
The decision to establish the University of Ife by the ruling Action Group party of the Western Region of Nigeria was in protest at the recommendations of the Ashby Report. The first Nigerian university was established in 1948 at Ibadan in the Western Region as an external college of the University of London.

The needs of Nigeria (then a British colony), however, exceeded the productivity of the country’s only university. In particular, the University of Ibadan had no faculty of engineering or technology, law school, pharmacy school or management training abilities.

The Ashby Commission, which was set up by the British, was to review tertiary education needs of the soon-to-be-independent nation of Nigeria. The government of the Western Region did not want to rely on federal universities or those of other regions to admit its numerous secondary school leavers. On 8th June 1961 the Law providing for the establishment of the Provisional Council of the University was formally inaugurated under the Chairmanship of Chief Rotimi Williams (later SAN).

The University at Ife was thus founded as a rebuttal to the perceived politicisation of higher education opportunities in Nigeria and the Western Region and was designed to fill the gaps in manpower needs. The final site was chosen, 13,000 acres (5,300 ha) of land, was donated by the people of Ile-Ife for the proposed university. The first financial grant provided for the university was £250,000 from the Western regional government.
To be continued tomorrow
Adegboruwa is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN).