By: Sonaike Peter

In Genesis 3:9, God asked Adam, “Where are you?”. This question came after a fallout in the Garden of Eden. A fallout is simply the figurative aftereffects of a discord. Today, students at the University of Ibadan find themselves asking a similar question. Where is Covenant Odedele, the Students’ Union President, at a time when his leadership is most needed?

According to the University of Ibadan Students’ Union constitution, the Union exists to protect and promote the interests of its members. Actions and inactions that disregard these interests not only undermines the purpose of the Union but also breaches its constitution.

It should not be difficult for all to remember the exact words of Covenant during the season when aspiring student leaders longed for power. He said, “I will be a responsive President who will be ready to face the day-to-day welfare challenges of students.” But he hasn’t been of such words correspondingly and unfortunately, not also in the students’ favor. His words seem to echo a betrayal of the forged social contract.

One pressing issue facing students at the University of Ibadan is the persistent concern about the hike in fees and the unrepentant wrong approach of the Students’ Union leadership to it. This concerning trend stretches back to the tenures of past Union Presidents like Akeju, Mascot, Host, and Aweda Bolaji, all of whom have a hand in the students’ current predicament. These previous leaders failed to genuinely address different key issues in their times, just as Covenant treads the same self-centered path. By self-centered, he does not care to humble his heart to listen to students’ voices other than his.

It is particularly unfortunate that Covenant Odedele, as well as his adherents, are beginning to write his legacy of misrepresenting the student body on matters of fee increments and other neglected concerns. No student should be booked into the lipgloss-claim that the current leadership, like those before it, has done or is doing its best to represent students’ genuinely. Covenant and his teammates at the level of the Students’ Representative Council’s failure tripped significantly when he unilaterally cancelled a Congress ratified by the 12th Assembly, while the SRC continue to display absentmindedness and sheer disorientation of its basic essence, despite that the Congress as the highest organ of the union’s core purpose was to address fee-related grievances.

The second cancellation of the congress occurred despite that over 200 signatures had already been gathered at the Congress convergence. Anyone who believes and critically understand that the Union is supposed to get better in its years will easily identify the reasons behind students unpopular participation at that Congress. With an unforgettable precedence of disregard by those elected to serve students and the uncontrolled failure of the SRC to restore sanity to the Union, students hardly see themselves in the picture. Instead of mobilizing students for the congress, Covenant, along with other members of the Students’ Union Executive Committee and the 12th Assembly under the leadership of Shoge Quadri, treated the issue despite it prospect, with stark indifference. Despite being directed by the Students’ Representative Council (SRC) at its third emergency sitting, to release a memorandum ahead of the May 17 Congress, the Union issued an unletterheaded release as late as 8:15AM a week after and on the very slated day. The most harmful part of the whole issue is the sluggish nature of the 12th Assembly to bring sanity to the union and appropriately discipline the characters who perpetuated complicity to the idea of the congress; the entire council inclusive.

This betrayal of student trust has bred fear, hopelessness, and disillusionment. For many Uites, being on campus is a daily struggle. Female students resorted to selling their organs (eggs) just to make ends meet. Others take on menial jobs, sometimes at the expense of their academics, just to afford their fees. Those who believed in public education as a path to a better future are now grappling with its marketization.

If Covenant has forgotten what students went through last session, he must be reminded. It is no doubt a fact that he has no critical antecedents in student struggles activities. The 2023/2024 academic session was full of essential dramas, he came into the picture for political reasons, and has since keep building the essence of the union around his personality, than within the assembly of students. Fee hikes forced many students into undignified crowdfunding campaigns to meet deadlines after a three-week unsolicited break imposed by the university. His leadership has particularly abandoned making efforts towards initiating a bursary scheme. While some students returned with their fees paid, others had no choice but to defer their admissions.

In the face of all this, Covenant has remained complicit. The student community yearned for a President who will boldly advocate for them, unafraid of repression from the university management. A President who restores hope and shields students from unjust educational policies. The office of the Students’ Union President is not a title of comfort. It is a seat of responsibility.

The student community is not asking for too much. They seek adequate representation. With the June 6 school fee deadline approaching, we ask, Where is Covenant? For the more than thirteen students he advised to defer their admission, where is Covenant? For students facing accommodation issues till now, where is Covenant? For lectures not yet in full swing, where is Covenant? For the ongoing electricity rationing, where is Covenant? And for the three students still facing disciplinary action for peacefully protesting against fee hikes on May 13, where is Covenant?

The Students’ Union President has been absent for too long. It is either time to fail students once again or stand with them.

Also, the Students’ Representative Council must prevail on the Executive Committee to reconvene the Congress. This time, students should be well mobilized for the congress. There are more reasons to call a Congress than to not. The mass of students on campus, as well as the different members of the 12th Assembly, should make a convergence for a Congress a necessity.