Fighting UNILAG “oppression”, Femi Adeyeye says he’s “not afraid of death”
Femi Adeyeye, a University of Lagos (UNILAG) student suspended for criticizing the school management, has said there’s no longer freedom of thought in the school.
“The UNILAG community has so much been militarised that students are enclosed in their pains,” Adeyeye wrote in a Facebook post this morning.
“When they speak, they get echoes of their voices instead of replies from their ‘elders’,” he said.
Adeyeye got rusticated for four semesters for criticizing the way UNILAG authorities handled a student protest in 2016.
The students demanded for basic amenities, especially water and electricity, but the management responded by calling in armed police to evict students. UNILAG then banned the student union government and made students sign indemnity forms before the school was reopened.
Adeyeye and 10 other students, most of them union leaders, were suspended. Almost one year after the protest, UNILAG is yet to add to its one-vehicle “fleet of ambulances” as student demanded.
READ: “How we suffered like animals in UNILAG hostels”
Students challenged the case in court. A judge recently trashed it.
“For those asking to know what the ruling in court was, the suit was struck out on ‘technical grounds’ and I wasn’t surprised,” Adeyeye wrote.
“Who then is the common man to challenge the system?”
Adeyeye is presently teaming up with other students to protest against the school management. The protest, scheduled to take place on March 6, is being organized under the “Save UNILAG Coalition”.
READ: Unlike UNILAG that “victimises” critics, Ohio varsity treats students like royalty during water crisis
“There are feelers that they want to get me arrested at the Press Centre tomorrow. It’s no problem,” Adeyeye, who has been arrested several times on alleged orders of UNILAG authorities, said.
“I am always ready. I try as much to go anywhere now with toothbrush and toothpaste because I might be picked anytime.
“I also try to eat well because who knows the last meal I would have. This is a struggle for life. I am not part of those who are surviving to die. I am living the life of sacrifice. It might take time but the truth would definitely prevail.”
Since we started reporting on Adeyeye, UNILAG authorities have been snubbing our calls for comments.
