By: IndyPress News Desk

Nice Linus, a 300-level Law student, has been disqualified from the new Students’ Representative Council.

Nice’s disqualification was communicated to the Speaker of the 11th Assembly, Opegbemi Busoye Matthias, via correspondence signed by a member of the management staff, Mr. T.I Musa, the Deputy Registrar (Students), who also serves as the Chairman of the University of Ibadan Students’ Union Electoral Commission.

The internal memorandum, dated Tuesday, March 2025, was copied to the Warden of Obafemi Awolowo Hall and the Chairperson of the Hall.

The Deputy Registrar said that the election of Nice Linus was “an oversight.”

He claimed that the University regulations forbade students with pending disciplinary cases from contesting or holding any elected positions until the case was resolved.

“This appears to have been an oversight, as the University regulations clearly state that students with pending disciplinary cases are not eligible to contest or hold any elected positions until their cases are resolved.”

The memorandum stated that Miss Olaleye Abolaji Joy, who was a runner-up in the recently held UI’SRC election, would automatically become the majority leader from Obafemi Awolowo Hall of Residence, University of Ibadan.

“This outcome requires a necessary change in the composition of the Students’ Representative Council (SRC) for the 12th Assembly, as Miss Olaleye Abolaji Joy, who scored 89 points, automatically becomes the majority leader,” the Deputy Registrar’s letter read.

“This change means that Miss Linus Nice ceases to be a member of the new Students’ Representative Council,” Mr. T.I Musa memorandum declared.

Linus Nice, along with Aduwo Ayodele, a 300L student, and Olamide Gbadegesin, a 700L student, are being victimized for openly opposing the tuition hike introduced in the concluding academic session.

On Monday, May 13, 2024, the three students raised placards decrying the fee hike policy at the inauguration ceremony of the Aweda Bolaji-led Students’ Union administration. They were dragged out of the venue and eventually handed over to operatives of the Nigerian army. The incident was widely reported by mainstream media.

In July, the three students faced a fact-finding panel of the Students’ Disciplinary Committee. The prosecution of the case has been notably delayed since July 2024.

International human rights organizations like Amnesty International, Global Human Rights, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, Activista Nigeria, and Education Rights Campaign, among others, condemned the high-handedness of the Professor Kayode Adebowale-led administration. It berated the University for its disposition to the expression of students.

The global human rights organizations noted that the right to expression is both fundamental and universal.

In July 2024, @AmnestyNigeria on X.com wrote, “Amnesty International calls on the University of Ibadan @UniIbadan to rescind plans to expel three students for exercising their human rights; by participating in a protest against an outrageous fee hike that — so far — forced many students to withdraw from university education.”

“The University of Ibadan had invited the three students: Olamide Gbadegeshin, Aduwo Ayodele and Nice Linus to appear before a ‘disciplinary committee’ in what appears to be an attempt to intimidate them. In the face of the worst economic crisis, universities should be reducing fees,” Amnesty International noted.