LATE ADEKUNLE ADEMUYIWA ADEPEJU; A QUINTESSENTIAL HERO

By Àlàó Àbiódun Jóshua

To be heroic is to be courageous enough to die for something – [Criss Jami, Venus in Arms]

The word “Hero” is someone who “we” determine to have demonstrated behaviors & decisions that are ethically and emotionally worthy of our awe. We see in them something we think is not in us. Giving similar conditions, we “think” we might not make the same moves and decisions they do, so we place them in an elevated place in society or in our minds. It’s really surprising that we humans sometimes consider fictional characters with supernatural powers as heroes.

It was indeed a gloomy day filled with obscurity, the cloud was pregnant with tears as the late Kunle Adepeju, a student of the Department of Agricultural Economics, got killed by a stray bullet in a protest on the 1st of February, 1971.

46 years down the memory lane, reading through the detailed compendium & synopsis about the late sage Kunle Adepeju titled – [KUNLE ADEPEJU: THE LABOUR OF OUR HEROES PAST SHALL NEVER BE IN VAIN (PART I)] – as written by Onifade Bello Abdurrahman, I got strucked in bewilderment over the unprofessional way the men of the Nigeria Police Force decided to handle the civil unrest in a malignant way. Till date, these men are still yet to desist from this draconic act, series of students have been killed and harassed, oppressed, brutalized and victimized unjustly afterwards just like the recent case of Adeyeye Olorunfemi. This is highly insalubrious, egregious and pathetic. We Nigerian students must vehemently say No to this injustice. Sometimes standing against evil is more important than defeating it. The greatest heroes stand because it is right to do so, not because they believe they will walk away with their lives. Such selfless courage is a victory in itself. What emanated and led to the death of this late sage was poor welfare condition. He and other conscious Uites stood vehemently against the imbroglio that went down in Zik Hall, The students reaction to the shabby Catering services in Zik Hall & dishonesty of the Manageress sparked off a protest. In Memory of a true hero, Adekunle Ademuyiwa Adepeju, the entirety of Nigerian students remembers his great bravery. The power of his sacrifice, effort, courage, bravery remains a strong fulcrum for justice.

Reading through an interview of the Ogbomosho born Agbo Areo by Mr. Gbenro Adeshina, an initiator of the popular Pacesetter series in the 1970s, who currently runs a publishing house (Agbo Areo Publishers, Apata) in Ibadan, an Alumnus, Department of English, University of Ibadan. An excerpt of the interview was when He was asked “What were your most memorable days in the university?” his response was – “I will say sad. The day Kunle Adepeju was killed. That was the first time a student was killed in the university campus. Professor Lambo was the Vice Chancellor then.” This response indeed shows that it was apparently a sad day, as the clouds wept over the demise of a young student whose life got truncated. Feb 1st 1971, therefore as thus become a day that has continue to linger on in the heart of Nigerian students – If we don’t remember our heroes, we won’t encourage civil.” – Ojo Aderemi.

In a well detailed article by Reuben Abati [Guardian Newspaper 11/12/05], I found this excerpt below

“…In addition, carrots were dangled before students’ union leaders. But these measures hardly changed the resolve of Nigerian students as agents of change. Many died in the process; other students were rusticated. The students’ struggle has had its own fair share of heroes and martyrs (Segun Okeowo, Kunle Adepeju, Akintunde Ojo, Chima Ubani, Chris Abashi, Emma Ezeazu, Chris Mammah, Labaran Maku, Banji Adegboro, Ben Oguntuase, Lanre Arogundade, Omoyele Sowore, Olusegun Mayeigun …) who tasted battle and stood for principles in the many theatres of war (anti-SAP and removal of oil subsidy riots between 1989 and 1991, Jume 12 protests, anti-military campaigns, e.t.c) where and when Nigerian students stood beside labour and other pro-democracy groups to insist that Nigeria can be governed differentlyrics for the benefit of the citizens.”

This excerpt shows that students at that time stood firm in their stance to face turbulent crisis of anti-students policies.

It’s really evidential that even till today tertiary institutions are peeved by the poor welfare conditions, students have been subjected to epileptic supply of electricity and water; poor condition of halls of residence, laboratories and lecture theatres, poor funding of the education sector among others, this is highly insalubrious and pathetic.

Nevertheless, in summary, The genuine student activists remaining in various Universities in Nigeria must stand up and engineer movements that will not only defend the rights of Nigerian youth as regards well funded and qualitative education with democratic impute of the worker’s and student’s unions in the running of the education sector but also link its struggle with that of other sections of the oppressed layers –workers, artisans, professionals, et cetera and defend people’s rights to better socio-economic system that will defend people’s welfare in gneral. Just like in the words of Temmy Gista, He said “They thought they’d buried us, but they never knew we were seeds!”.

#KunleAdepejuLivesOn

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *