By; Yemi Alesh
A student journalist and public speaker, Adekunle Adebajo that was thought to have graduated, admitted to having being rusticated by the university over a critical article he wrote and published on The Guardian national newspaper on April 20th, 2016 . The article titled; “UI: The Irony of fashionable rooftops and awful interior interiors” contained the writer’s critical stance on the university management’s choice to invest in tiling the rooftops of Kenneth Mellanby hall, the rusticated student’s hall of residence instead of investing in the repair of structures that had undergone more serious dilapidations.
On Thursday, June 14th, 2018, Kunle Adebajo took to his Facebook account and admitted to having being rusticated by the varsity over an article he had written in 2016. A post he shared at 6.09pm read thus, “It is true that I was rusticated by the University of Ibadan for two semesters. It is also true it was for a 2016 article.”
On Friday, June 15th, 2018, Mr. Adebajo equally narrated the whole situation on how his suspension came to be. In a statement he wrote, he mentioned that he had written an article to criticise the management’s embarkment on a project he considered inappropriate, on grounds of misplaced priorities.
“Sometime in April 2016, while still in my third year, I noticed as I moved to the basement from Mellanby Hall’s C Block that bags of cement were being offloaded from a huge truck parked outside. I had thought the materials were for the hall’s renovation, especially toilets which have been a constant subject of debate and controversy. But upon enquiry, I realised I was wrong. Rather, they were to be deployed in tiling rooftops. Later that day, I was with the Speaker of the Students’ Representative Council and the President of the Union of Campus Journalists. And it was thought that this project was, if at all necessary, a misplacement of priorities. It was further agreed that something needed to be done―more specifically, something need to be written. “
Disciplinary actions began against Adekunle Adebajo, two days after the publication of the article, when he was given a query letter by the Mellanby Hall Warden that he had 48 hours to give reasons why disciplinary actions should not be taken against him as he had been found to have “brought the University into disrepute”. Kunle promptly wrote his defence but the disciplinary case against him pressed on for two years; and when he was expected to have graduated with the Faculty of Law Graduating Class of 2017, his name was omitted from the “Book of Life”, that contains the list of graduating students and their grades.
“. Earlier this year, when the “Book of Life”, which contains the long list of graduates and their grades, was released, my name was visibly omitted. Rather, it was written alongside names of people with academic shortfalls or who were alleged to have committed examination malpractice among similar offences.
On Thursday, May 24 2018, I finally faced the Central Student Disciplinary Committee. With my plea taken, I was told: “The Committee has advised the Vice Chancellor and the Vice Chancellor has approved that you are rusticated for two semesters”. I was also told typically that I could appeal to the Council within fourteen days [of receiving the verdict in writing].”
Meanwhile, there seems to be some light at the end of the tunnel of this case. Former Minister of Education and Vice President of World Bank, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili has become interested in the matter, demanding to be given full details of the development. Media platforms and personalities, including the Premium Times Campus Investigative Journalists and Mr. Dele Momodu have requested for the immediate reinstatement of Mr. Kunle Adebajo, as refusal to do so would amount to the varsity’s attempt to stifle freedom of speech and expression.
The Union of Campus Journalists, University of Ibadan have equally pleaded for the reinstatement of their former Managing Editor while the National Union of Campus Journalists issued a press release, dated June 16th, 2018, demanding “the unconditional reversal of Kunle Adebajo’s rustication and by extension, the halting of actions of any kind, designed to suppress, oppress and censor campus journalism in Nigeria.”
