“… establishing the historical context, connecting the intersection, and restating the need for the ideological repositioning of the Students’ Union.”

Background

Last Thursday, February 1, the remembrance of Kunle Adepeju was a rare occasion for the student community at the University of Ibadan to revisit an occurrence that was highly momentous fifty-three years ago. Although the incident is a long-drawn-out page in Nigeria’s history of Students’ Unionism, it sadly also mirrors the current experiences that the student community is facing.

Not an unknown fact, but due to the alarming level of unconsciousness among students today, it should be acknowledged that the leadership of the Students’ Union organized a series of activities for the remembrance ceremony. According to the scheduled order of events, the leadership of the two main arms of the Students’ Union, along with representatives from the council of halls and faculty chairpersons or presidents, paid a solemn visit to Kunle Adepeju’s resting site at St. Anne’s Church, Molete, Ibadan. This was followed by other events, including a candlelight procession and a ‘bembemstick’ gyration held in the evening. A public lecture could also have been part of the commemoration. However, the significance of this event goes beyond the activities themselves.

There is no doubt, as the saying goes, that the lives of men (with Kunle Adepeju in mind) are as brittle and fleeting as candle flames. All living souls are like a lit matchstick, glowing and depleting simultaneously, much like the present generation of Nigerian students perceives Adepeju’s death. That students gathered and ended the remembrance procession by submitting their lit candles at the base of Kunle Adepeju’s statue, fittingly positioned in front of the Students’ Union Building, does not imply that all participants grasped the lessons from his passing. Therefore, we must consult the annals of history to understand how past actions influence attitudes today.

Welfare: From Zik Cafeteria to Kunle’s Death

“One of my sad moments in UI was 1971 when Kunle Adepeju was brutally murdered by the police. Though he was not a Zikite, he died in solidarity and sympathy for the cause of Zikites. I was one of those that picked him up from the gutter where he fell and rushed him to Jaja Clinic where he was confirmed dead” — Gbadebo Jayeola, Honorable, Students’ Representative Council, 1969/1970 academic session.

On February 1, 1971, students, particularly from Nnamdi Azikiwe Hall, embarked on a peaceful demonstration. Personal accounts from residents who witnessed the incident confirm that other members of the student community also participated in the demonstration that day.

It should be known that the idea of demonstration, utilised in reaction to Nigeria’s colonial and post-colonial experiences, was not alien to students of the University of Ibadan. Notably, in 1962, students from the University of Ibadan openly demonstrated on the streets of Ibadan against plans to establish British military bases in the country. Such fearless opposition, driven by intelligence and resilience, contributed to the abolishment of the Anglo-Nigeria Defence Pact. That era was distinctly different from today.

The 1971 protest was organized to express Zikites’ dissatisfaction, which the students’ residents had conceived against the University management, but principally against Mrs. Grace Apampa, the manageress of the catering service in the hall. The feud resulted from students’ discontent with the inefficiency, mismanagement, and subpar welfare provided.

Prince Adetiba, the Speaker of the Students’ Representative Council in the 1972/73 session, recounted his experience thus: “There was this hall party that Zikites felt was not excellent enough to be called a party. This led us to inquire why and how the beer got finished, which resulted in the discovery of cartons of beer kept in the store by the then Domestic Warden, Mrs. Apampa.”

It should be noted that the cafeteria in question is the same edifice situated at the center of today’s Nnamdi Azikiwe Hall. However, unlike its current commercial reputation, it was, particularly during the period under review, a heavily subsidized meal spot.

Approximately a month before February 1, 1971, the residents of Nnamdi Azikiwe Hall made allegations and petitioned the central university administrators. This grievance, which came ahead of time, was closely followed by a 48-hour non-violent and deliberate refusal to eat at the cafeteria, undertaken to project the students’ displeasure. The hunger strike lasted two days, from Saturday, January 30, to Sunday, January 31, 1971. The subsequent and unapologetic reluctance of the University authorities, led by the then Vice-Chancellor, the late Professor Thomas Adeoye Lambo, to intervene and remove Mrs. Grace Apampa prompted the students to embark on the protest on Monday, February 1.

The students roused themselves to action, mobilizing and chanting invigorating songs. The students, who had marched towards what is now the Tamuno Tekano building, were halted by policemen invited by the Vice-Chancellor. Kunle Adepeju, a second-year Agricultural Economics student and resident of Kenneth Mellanby Hall, was also at the protest ground. According to most accounts, he was shot while attempting to help another student.

Kunle Adepeju is famously remembered for being the first student victim of police brutality and the first tertiary institution student to be killed on the soil of his institution. Adepeju’s body was left in front of Queen Elizabeth II Hall for three days. He was wrapped in white-like linen and neglected till February 4 when the news of his death was broken late to his parents. He was later buried on the 5th of February, 1971.

At his burial, there were over fifty thousand 50,000 persons in attendance. This figure, according to the Sunday Post news report of February 7th, 1971, is rightly corroborated with the motion scenes of the massive attendance recorded at Kunle’s burial procession. In attendance at the burial were the late Mr. Wahab Goodluck, the founding President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, and Mr. Wole Soyinka, who later became a Professor and winner of the Nobel prize.

News of his death infuriated students across the country. An intervarsity group converged in Lagos to demonstrate and draw international attention to the cause of the February 1 UI agitation, as well as the needless use of lethal force by the Nigerian Police Force officers. The protest lasted four days, resulting in the establishment of a panel of inquiry into the case, ordered by the Gowon military government. Barristers Gani Fawehinmi and Kanmi Osoba represented the Students’ Union at the inquiry, serving as pro bono counsel for the students.

The Intersection between 1971 and 2024

For a fact, drawing parallels between 1971 and 2024 is not far-fetched. The same way students’ genuine complaints were neglected fifty-three years ago is the same manner concerns are left unattended today. It would be unfaithful to misinterpret the analysis of what transpired in 1971 or deny the current state of students’ welfare at the University of Ibadan.

In 1971, student agitation centered around calls for better welfare, and today, it is no different. Cafeterias, now fully commercialized, charge students exorbitant prices. Furthermore, the depreciating Nigerian currency has reduced the value of food, causing significant inconvenience.

The root of this issue lies in the government’s austere policies. Other concerns about student welfare include the establishment of duplicated and inexplicable fees, increased accommodation fees, overcrowding, and the introduction of various levies. The majority of these concerns remain unaddressed by the management and the Students’ Union.

Repositioning the Students’ Union in the face of welfare concerns 

There is no doubt that the Students’ Union at the University of Ibadan needs to be repositioned and must serve students more efficiently than it has in the recent past. Unionism is desirable for those who understand its value. However, this desire must be accompanied by a deep drive for consciousness among students.

It cannot be overstated that the Students’ Union is in dire need of a departure from its conservatism today. By labeling the current Students’ Union leadership as ‘conservatives,’ we are calling a spade what it is: the half-convincing approach of the Samuel Samson Tobiloba-led administration in addressing students’ concerns.

The Union, by historical, constitutional, and ideological provisions, is the conscience of the entire University. As a matter of fact, there is indeed a void of rational inquiry to be filled – a participatory kind of thinking that must begin to characterize the Union, distinct from the CV-oriented drives.

There is no gainsaying that examples from history evolve into philosophy. Recalling an incident that occurred fifty-three years ago is history; making sense of it is philosophy. It ultimately becomes possible for the University of Ibadan student community to philosophize history. As students, we must glean valuable lessons from the struggles of our forerunners.

We must also begin to engage with our realities, which are a bundle of contradictions in a highly priced educational institution. The assurance that the University is producing a solution-oriented breed of students should equally be reflected in the running of the University as a system. We must also ask: what better roles must the Students’ Union play? Students must pose uncomfortable questions about the history of the students’ union, the means of departure from its lowly regarded state, and what individual contributions must be made to improve the Union. The problem today, of course, is systemic.

It seems that the University is no longer on a journey of consciousness. What used to be the great radical halls of residence in the early history of students’ unionism have been turned into museums or have become relics themselves. Students have neglected to be formidable in the face of systemic repression. It is only when students begin to pay attention to their seventy-five-year (and counting) history that the students’ community can stop the horrendous disorientation that has marred its present. Until the role of the Students’ Union in the context of national crisis is well understood, and students’ attitudes change in response, the pendulum of heedlessness to students’ concerns, among others, will continue to swing.