Following the declaration of a new resumption date by the University of Ibadan’s management, Ojo Aderemi, the president of the suspended Students’ Union has insisted that no examination without the management meeting their demands.
Responding to the announced resumption via his Facebook page last night, Ojo established that the students are not willing to resume by July 2nd as directed by the school unless the management succumbs to their demands that led to the closure beforehand.
The president said:
“Our attention has been drawn to a purported release from the Administration asking students to resume on July 02 and exams will start on July 04.
It will be recalled that the Union has placed certain demands on the desks of the Administration.
The demands were;
1) That the school be reopened immediately and that students
should be returned to their halls of residence;
2) That the Students Union be reinstated immediately
3) That hot plates be allowed in the kitchenette because it borders on students survival on campus;
4) That cases of certain suspended students be reviewed;
“On all of these, we were open to dialogue. We made ourselves available for negotiations but none came. We were respectful and positive in all our media engagements. We were civil with the whole process. It should be noted that we are not averse to resumption and we would not be pleased to rot at home.
“However, we cannot go home for four weeks and come back without having our demands met. It is unacceptable for students to be on campus without a Union or with some illegal structures that will not protect the democratic rights of students. Students have clamoured for the issuance of their ID cards which they paid for.
“The ID cards does not border on it’s presentation at exam centers alone. It is valuable as an integral part of our lives as students within campus, in town and outside the country. Let us remind fellow students that none of these under listed issues have been attended too. By all standards this is injustice and unfairness against us – students. It is dangerous not to have a Students Union on ground judging by the security situation of the school. The absence of a Union can give rise and boldness to unregistered immoral characters among students. We can not live under such conditions. We are aware of the plans to divide us by instigating our final year students against us. We believe that they are not robots.
“They are intellectuals who have passes through a system. Nigeria is not in need of half baked graduates who can not stand on their two feet against injustice and brutal violation of human rights.
“On this basis we, hereby, call for the reinstatement of our Union without which the resolve of students will not be changed. Our Union is our dignity. Survival is a right. Without these we are not writing any exams.”
In actualizing the demands, he concluded that “All legitimate mechanisms will be deployed.”
