According to the latest ranking of universities in Africa by Journals Consortium (JC) the university of Ibadan, the first university in Nigeria is ranked 8th in Africa and 1st in Nigeria. It won’t be wrong to say then that UI is the big brother of all universities in Nigeria and thus should lay good examples for others to follow. A citadel of learning like ours should promote fundamental human rights and one of the most important rights especially in an environment like ours is freedom of association. The association we are concerned about here is the student association popularly called the Student Union (UI) and its receding importance in the past few weeks.
It is no longer news that the student’s union election has been suspended by the school management, thus leaving our union without leaders. I know some people will want to argue that fact by saying that the Huntershola led administration is still functional but if we are to agree with the constitution of the student union university of Ibadan, section (6)sub-section(2)which states that ‘All officers of the Union shall hold office for one academic year except in case of incapacitation on grounds of ill health, death, resignation or impeachment, rustication, expulsion by University authority or dissolution of the executive council by the congress.’ From the foregoing, it is clear that this present administration is defunct and is just a figure head that is being imposed upon the students by the school management. Because clearly the students union constitution does not state that an administration can be at the elms of affairs for more than an academic year if there is suspension of election.
Also according to section(26) sub-section(1) of the students union constitution university of Ibadan which states that ‘Elections shall normally be not later than 30 days after resumption in a new session.’ It is clear that the time for election into offices of the union leadership is due, since we have spent more than two months in this session
The suspension of the election can be traced to the protest embarked on by the students following the death of Mr. Mayowa Alaran a fellow student. The protest led to a diplomatic meeting between the students(represented by the aspirants for this session’s election and some students activists) and the school management. In this meeting the students laid their grievances before the management and they promised to work on some of them and not all of them. This infuriated the students and they informed the management that they will postpone the election so that they can go and deliberate on the decisions made at the meeting. Upon hearing this, the management threatened to suspend the elections if the students do not agree to their terms of conducting the election that period.
It can be seen that the school management have carried out their threat and they are ready to make the students pay for disobeying them, but should this be at the expense of our union?, should it be at the expense of exercising our fundamental human right of association? I say no. it is our right to associate freely, because it is when we have a functional union that we will be able to agitate for our rights, it is only a functional union that will help fight against any victimization of students by the management. It is also when elections is conducted that we will have a functional union and not this ‘toothless dog’ of a union, which is unconstitutional in the first place and which is being imposed on us by the management with their refusal to conduct the elections.
Judging from the foregoing, it is clear that the school management is to be held responsible for the suspension of the election, but some people will argue otherwise. Some are of the opinion that it was because those that represented the students at the meeting lacked diplomatic skills and that in diplomacy you always compromise. In essence what they mean is that you can never win all and that they should have agreed with the little they have been offered and allowed the elections to hold, they can then keep pushing forward in years to come with a functional union rather than postponing the elections which led to the suspension of the election.
Whatever the case may be, the deed has been done. It is now time to look for a way forward. I learnt from a source that the aspirants have written the school management on the need for the elections into the offices of the students union to be conducted, but I think more should be done. The school management might just see the aspirants as being selfish if they don’t have the backing of the whole student. Therefore I propose that the current office holders of our student union should write the school management on the need for there to be an election as soon as possible (probably within the next two weeks). The letter should also carry the signature of all UIITES because whether we like it or not, without a functional union there won’t be any means for us to channel our grievances to the school management and also express our freedom of association. People should be delegated to every hall of residence and faculty to gather the signatures of all well meaning UIITES. It is only with this that the management will know that we are not ready to be deprived of our right of freedom of association.
Conclusively, this should not be seen as the fight of only the aspirants. This should be seen as the fight of all well meaning UIITES, because without our freedom we would be subject to all the whims and caprices of the school management and according to Franklin D. Roosevelt ‘in the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved, hence, the need for us all to come together to free our union from the grasp of the school management.
God bless the student union of the University of Ibadan,
God bless the University of Ibadan,
God bless Nigeria.
ANONYMOUS
