Exactly one week after the #Lekki Massacre where the members of the Nigeria Army opened fire on peaceful protesters who gathered at the Lekki toll gates with the nation’s flag in their hands and the beautiful lyrics of the national anthem in their mouth, there broke out yet again another reaction provoking development in Ibadan, the capital city of Oyo State.
This time around, the reaction isn’t against the unlawful or illegal conduct of soldiers of the Nigerian Army but the gallant soldiers of the ENDSARS protest. You would recall that Ibadan’s city witnessed massive protests, despite having no leader, and has particularly gained traction for the state government’s security through the Operation Burst to the peaceful protesters during protests.
However, Ibadan’s enviable ENDSARS movement soon lost credibility when it was revealed self-acclaimed leaders disguised as “representatives” met with the state government to “speak on demands of ENDSARS.” This was met with huge disapproval as there was neither a process of representatives selection nor the public notified they will be attending the meeting or any feedback after the meeting till information leaked that the youth representatives collected a thanks for coming allowance in total of whopping one million Naira(1,000,000).
Sum of which was distributed forty thousand Naira (N40,000) each, a little above minimum wage, among the representatives save for eight representatives who returned their share of the money according to Akeju Olusegun, the UI SU president who was the spokesperson at the said meeting although not in his capacity as UI SU President.
Since the meeting became public knowledge, there have been numerous reactions to the mode of representation and, importantly, the purport of the monies shared.
Expressing his disappointment on three grounds, Victor Olulewa, a student of University of Ibadan and Deputy Speaker of the Law Students Representative Council, stated;
“ First, it is a movement that has been expressly presented as one without leaders. It has always been highly decentralized, therefore any form of representation was invalid on arrival. Secondly, assuming but not conceding that we had leaders, there was no public notice about the meeting; even after the meeting, there was no memorandum. But for the revelation last night, the general public would have been blind to this fact forever…”
“Lastly, the choice of the so called representatives was not meritocratic. Apart from the UI SU president, no other person on that list can speak for me. Choosing an influencer as a representative is like choosing the loudest student in the class to represent the school in a debate. A huge social media following doesn’t necessarily equate to high intellect or good moral standing. Even NANS is highly disconnected from the students and barely anyone is a card carrying member, so who are they actually representing?. Therefore, the choice of representatives was not even satisfactory or good enough to allay any fear or suspicion of dirty politics behind the scenes.”
He further commended scrutinizing the details of the meeting while also expressing admiration for the representatives who rejected the money, albeit calling them out for non-transparency.
“I believe the issue should not be taken lightly and the scrutiny they have been put under is reasonable. This is how politics starts, from brown envelopes to god-father politics, we have to curb such practices from now… I respect the individuals that returned their share of the money. However, they were still not transparent enough as they did not carry the general public along…”
The reaction is not any different in Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH). A 200 level student who pleaded anonymity with our Correspondent expressed cynicism on the purpose of the so-called greek gift. In her words;
“Receiving such gifts at this crucial period is a betrayal to the movement, not being that receiving the gift itself is bad but as we all know, such gifts are for the recipient to either defend the government or paint them in a good light. For them to collect it, that means they aren’t better than the government we’re fighting and such people are part of the problem Nigeria is facing.”
Since Monday night, many lists have been circulated on social media, which contained representatives’ names said to have accepted the sitting allowance. However, UCJ UI cannot confirm the integrity of these lists. The one that recognized Friday Adesegun as SUG president of LAUTECH and one of those who received the money.
At present, LAUTECH SUG is proscribed, and the only medium of student representation is the LAUTECH Students’ Union Executive Caretaker Committee headed by Olamide Olabiyi Anthony. We can only imagine the extent of impersonation that might have taken place all in the name of ENDSARS representatives.
One of the many lists circulated on social media
For many aggrieved students, the issue of concern appears not to be the kangaroo assumption of the representative role but that these representatives would accept financial gain solely for attending a dialogue, especially when there’s a campaign for a cut in the cost of governance.
Another student of a tertiary institution in Oyo State, Sunday Alabi (not real name), who spoke with our correspondence, decried the hypocrisy of youths who blame the older generation but doesn’t act any different.
“You collected money in the name of a movement which doesn’t recognize you as a representative and you didn’t remit this money wholesomely for the welfare of the movement. Instead you kept it in your pocket claiming you have “volunteered” your service to the #EndSars and #Endbadgovernance campaign. How then are you different from those who loot public funds in the name of allowances?” He stated.
Lamenting further, “Where is the place of transparency and accountability? Where is the place of integrity? You help mobilize people to fight against police brutality from these people and you went behind us to collect “allowances” from them, isn’t this hypocrisy?”
Although it’s been our 24 hours since the incident happened, it doesn’t seem like we have heard the last of it. Anyway, UCJ UI will keep you abreast of the situation as more facts unfold.
