-BY: Olopade Oluwasegunfunmilola
Of all the ridiculous expressions people use – one of the most ridiculous is “No news is good news.” “No news is good news” simply means that if you don’t hear from someone, everything is probably fine, and you can see at once why this expression makes such little sense, because everything being fine is only one of many, many reasons why someone may not contact you. Perhaps they are tied up. Maybe they are surrounded by fierce weasels, or perhaps they are wedged tightly between two refrigerators and cannot get themselves out. The expression might well be changed to “No news is bad news,” except that people may not be able to contact you because they have just been crowned king or are competing in a gymnastics tournament. The point is that there is no way to know why someone has not contacted you, until they contact you and explain themselves. For this reason, the sensible expression would be “No news is no news,” except that it is so obvious it is hardly an expression at all.
Obvious or not, however, it is the proper way to describe the current state of the students’ union in the acclaimed first and the best, University of Ibadan. Since after the May 29, 2017 students protest that led to the suspension of our dear Union, we have been left blank in the dark. We have waited so long to know our fate, but this doesn’t seem homecoming.
BACKGROUND
For the sake of the new students that think UI doesn’t have a Union, it surely does! But there is nothing without its own history. The history of the suspended students’ union in unibadan started right from the staged protest of May 29, 2017 – being a democracy day. The unrehearsed drama started on Saturday April 22, when the Congress resolved that students should go on strike if they do not receive their Identity Cards two weeks before exams. The Management had although promised to produce Smart Identity Cards for the new session. That it will be a chip-based smart ID card with multiple functionality as it can be used for identification, access control, attendance system, library facility usage, login access to computers, payment for services, e-learning and medical information storage.
The Congress also took interest in the cases of students who were ‘unjustly’ rusticated/expelled from the school. And the issue of hotplate, which has been historical in UI, especially in the female halls. All these were considered injustice on the part of the students, and this brought the “NO ID CARD, NO EXAM” protest on May 29, 2017.
AFTERMATH
The school management has in reserve various ways of responding to students’ agitations and propitiations. But this time, students were told to vacate the halls of residence within 24hours of notice. This seemed to be a battle won already. It has been done for years, and it’s of course another success! When examinations are approaching, something somewhere sometime would just happen.
But sadly, there was a cruel twist of fate, a phrase which here means that nothing has happened the way we thought it would. It feels as if the whole scene has been nothing but a dismal play, presented just for someone else’s amusement, and that the playwright who invented the cruel twist of fate is somewhere far above, laughing and laughing at his creation. The unexpected happened as the Students’ Union was on Tuesday 30th day of May 2017 suspended indefinitely.
“According to the sacrosanct constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, we have the right to associate, assemble. And no individual, nobody, has the right to dissolve the Union, because it is not a cube of sugar.” – Ojo Aderemi [2017]
AT THE MOMENT
We have run through a complete academic session without the students’ union. We have hoped and waited to be surprised with a good news, at least. And eventually, we have just dashed into another academic session.
The supposed ‘smart’ ID Cards have been received by many students. Although so many students are still left confused if the true definition of ‘smartness’ was achieved at all on the newly released student ID Cards. Secondly, none of the ‘unjustly’ rusticated/expelled students from the university have till now been reconsidered. Also, the use of cooking hotplates in the halls of residence (females especially) has a ‘death’ penalty attached. And lastly, our dear Students’ Union has been lost to the hands of the avengers. At the moment, we do not know whether to keep hoping for the reinstatement of the Union or we should let the sleeping dog lie. We are short of assurance from the university management; and it seems everyone has moved on with life already!
CONCLUSION
There are many things in this world I do not know. I do not know how butterflies get out of their cocoons without damaging their wings. I do not know why anyone would boil vegetable when roasting them is tastier. I do not know how to make olive oil, and I do not know why dogs bark before an earthquake. But most expectedly, I do not know when the Students’ Union will be restored.
[References: Lemony Snicket (2001), Ojo Aderemi (2017)]
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Olopade Oluwasegunfunmilola is an essayist, poet, writer of fiction, public speaker and a columnist. He is a final-year student of the Department of Computer Science, University of Ibadan. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Indy Press and the Webmaster at Union of Campus Journalists, University of Ibadan.
His writings have appeared on various platforms as Naij.com, PM Magazine, Campus Trend, The OWL, PCG International, UnibadanEfiwe and elsewhere.
You can contact him via: profthepoet@gmail.com / 08102483872
