By: Gbayesola Samuel

In ancient Greece, direct democracy gave people the power to determine their communal fate by  providing them with the planform to voice their concerns and decide collectively on a binding course of action. The University of Ibadan  Students’ Union Congress is ideally conceived in the same vein, serving as the democratic apex organ and a platform for raising and addressing student concerns. But today, the apex assembly seems to have been reduced to near obsolescence.

Once a vibrant platform for administering students’ welfare, and making binding resolutions that shaped their academic lives, the Congress has today become a shadow of its former self as its core essence is often undermined by the high-handedness and arrogance of some Students’ Union leaders, both past and present. A recent and glaring example of this dysfunction traces back to the Aweda Bolaj’s tenure. On August 17, 2024, during a Congress convened to address pressing student concerns, including  increment in fees and the worsening welfare of the student community, the Students’ Union Executive Committee, led by Aweda Bolaji, sabotaged the core essence of the apex gathering by walking out on students. Rather than heed the students’ outcry, the Aweda-led administration  further deleted the Congress’ resolution calling for the suspension of the fee portal, displaying a blatant disregard for the democratic voice of the student community

Prior to this misconduct, Aweda Bolaji had previously cancelled a ratified and convened general meeting of the Students’ Union (Congress), citing flimsy excuses despite the urgency of the concerns it was intended to address. He was later sanctioned by the University of Ibadan Students’ Representative Council (11th Assembly)and mandated to carry out community service as a disciplinary nemesis. Even worse, his administration consistently failed to mobilize students for the convened general gathering, neglecting its duty while expecting high turnout  of students to magically happen.

The history has repeated itself even in the current tenure of the ‘Team Auspicious.’ On May 17, 2025, when the Students’ Union Executives were expected to mobilize students for a ratified Congress meant to address fee concerns and other pressing issues affecting the student community, they remained holed up in their Secretariat. As the quorum was being filled with the hope that it would reach the required 500,  the  Students’ Union President, Odedele Covenant, unilaterally cancelled the ratified general meeting, despite the gravity of the issues it was intended to solve.These instances reflect the persistent precedent of sabotaging the very foundation of student democracy.

The last time the University of Students’ Union Congress genuinely fulfilled its foundational purpose was on May  27, 2017, under the Ojo Aderemi-led administration. The apex gathering of students then embodied the very core essence that the apex student institution should stand for. It was not a meeting of a few, but a mass gathering of students determined to be heard. They had paid for their student identification cards  and received nothing. They had been harassed by campus security personnel for lack of being able to identify themselves as bonafide students of the University.

Eventually, the resolutions reached by general gathering brought real change, most notably, the issuance of student identification cards which had been delayed for a very long time. That victory benefited even students who weren’t enrolled at the time, illustrating the lasting legacy of what a functional Congress can achieve. That moment remains a beacon of what is possible when student voices are shaped by unity under the parameter of a determined Congress.

Mounting Issues, Silent Leaders

Today, students are suffering under the weight of misrepresentation. Critical issues have suffered institutional negligence on the part of the student leadership, as well as the management. Student victimization across halls, faculties, and departments is on the rise. An attempt by the university to criminalize student dissent seems to have attained a certain degree of success. Students are being victimized for challenging the status quo, undermining the very essence of a tertiary institution like ours, which should be a haven for free thought and expression.

Academic issues are piling up. Some courses go untaught, yet students are still expected to write exams. Transcript delays have cost students several opportunities, including scholarships. Lecture rooms remain in poor condition.

Accommodation concerns have become a recurring issue at the start of every session, leaving students homeless for weeks. Kitchenettes in hostels have been turned into living spaces– a development condensed and described by the critical mass of the student community as a crushed dignity. Meanwhile, the University continues to lease land for private hostel developments, even as the public hostels remain severely overstretched. It is therefore hard to ignore the need for total revamp.

A Call to Action

It is now clear that we can no longer continue to bank on the current crop of the student leaders to represent us. Time and time again in past sessions, they have chosen silence over service, evasion over engagement.The only path forward is to reclaim the power of the Congress.

This must begin with a renewed commitment from the student community. We must call for multiple Congress meetings to deal with the range of pressing concerns affecting us. We must organize, mobilize, and prioritize active and critical participation in matters that concern us. If our leaders won’t lead, then we must lead ourselves. If those who should be carrying the burden of challenging the institutional weapon  being fashioned  against us continue to remain silent, then we have a duty to speak. We should drop wisdom from the famous words of Martin Luther King JR: “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

The need to restore our Congress as a genuine democratic force, one capable of producing resolutions that bring relief, reform, progress and panacea to our numerous concerns cannot be overstated.