By Faith Adediran
During his first tenure as the President of the United States of America, Donald Trump became the poster boy of the term ‘fake news’. This is because he made the term the catchphrase of every public relations effort of his administration. At the end of his first tenure in office in 2020, it was reported by Independent UK that Trump has used the term for about double a thousand in his public speeches and/or social media. Although the term ‘fake news’ as a phenomenon and concept has existed beyond the emergence of Trump, the term became more prominently used during his tenure in 2016. This is because the US president used (and still uses) the term to discredit several claims that were made against him or his government, especially by the opposition or the media. It does not matter whether the claims are legitimate or not; as long as they do not seem to positively portray him or his administration, such claims or reports are tagged as unauthentic or fake.
Coming to our dear University of Ibadan, right from the beginning of this session, the political atmosphere in the university has looked relatively peaceful. The freshmen have resumed and are settling in. The older students have also resumed and picked up their academic pursuits like nothing happened last session, as if nothing is going on at the moment. But then, if we begin to consider the situation between the management of the university and the students as well as the situation within the Students' Union—the issues that everyone seems to be comfortably ignoring—the mask drops off, and the peace becomes a mere facade. Just as fake news has earlier been described, fake peace in this context is also self-explanatory. In this case, the peace we are enjoying in our union can be compared to the kind of peace that a person cooking close to a keg of gunpowder will enjoy.
In recent times, there have been trends of undemocratic arbitrariness in the scheme of the affairs between the management and the students of the University of Ibadan.
Take for example, on Friday, 7th of March 2025, there was a case of assault on the President of the Union of Campus Journalists, University of Ibadan, Olanshile Ogunrinu, and another campus journalist, Ojo Oluwasegun, by the security unit of the university at the inauguration of the new Executive and Representative Council of the Students Union. This incident was reported by the mainstream journalism outlets. Following the incident, UCJ UI sent out a press release to condemn this particular assault breach of the fundamental right of the assaulted campus journalists and also demanded a thorough investigation of the incident so that the perpetrators will be brought to book. Almost two months after the incident, there have not been any official statements from the management of the university to either acknowledge or apologise for the incident or assure the students and the campus journalists that a similar event will not occur in subsequent times.
This is not forgetting the fact that as the school resumed another academic session, the management of the university has continued with the trend of the sessional increment in the fees of the students. This increment was made as usual without the involvement of the students, who should have been represented by the Students' Union leaders that were inaugurated by the university’s management. This is concerning because the issue of such arbitrary increments was the major cause of the peaceful protest that the students staged in the first semester of the last session, a situation which held the university’s calendar still for three weeks. It is even more concerning seeing that the momentum from the protest last session had been thrown away like it didn't happen at all. In the meantime, the effect of these frequent increments on the students can not be overemphasised. Students are forced to turn to petty jobs, additional jobs and side hustles to try to cover their tuition costs, and even then, with the economic situation of the country, their efforts become futile.
While the issues described above only describe a tip of the iceberg in terms of the myriad of issues threatening our union, the unknown stance of the leadership of the University of Ibadan Students Union on these issues is rather saddening. The unions' perceptible sluggishness and foot dragging on the matter even now that we are fully into the first semester is unacceptable. The issues stated above and several others that have not been described here should be the concern of our union if they are indeed responsible. But it is sad to note that the Union leadership, led by Covenant Odedele, has been contributing to the illusion of peace and serenity within the Students Union. Their efforts in addressing these issues have been vague and consequently ineffective.
For instance, following the incident of the assault of the campus journalists and some students at their inauguration ceremony, through a public statement on the 9th of March 2025, the executive council acknowledged the incident and assured them that the situation had been controlled and no student was injured. For an executive council that just swore at that time to fulfil their duties in the best interest of the students, telling the students to move on from the incident like a norm can be understated as appalling. This was the same step the administration before them, the Aweda-led Team Amelioration, took when a similar incident happened during their own inauguration. They also tried to placate the student populace with vaguely phrased words of reassurance.
Another example is the increment in tuition fees; the union's executive council picked up their pen again on the 21st of April 2025 to address the students, acknowledging that the council had been notified about the increment and ‘they are working on it’. The leadership of the union took their ‘work’ to the next level by calling a stakeholder meeting dubbed a ‘town hall meeting’. This meeting, which was exclusive to three executives from the student association of all departments, faculties and halls of residence, made reactionary resolutions to an issue that should be of utmost priority.
One of the most evident shortcomings of the students' struggle against the increments in the last session was the late timing of the struggle. The previous leadership of the union took various steps to buy themselves time to avoid championing the interest of the students until the students eventually took the mantle of the struggle from the reluctant leaders. Even then, they (Team Amelioration) managed to fumble the results of the demonstration in a spectacular fashion. It is this same path that the current leadership of the Students' Union is taking, and the end of that path is there for all to see.
While the school has fully resumed into a new session and the academic and non-academic activities have begun with it, the assignments and projects seem to be the only worry, and everything else does not matter so much. It must be acknowledged that the University of Ibadan is still making undemocratic decisions that affect the students, but in the midst of all these issues, the leadership of the Students' Union is going about how to inaugurate a fresh student as SU president for one day. And that the peace which you observed in the atmosphere is an illusion.
However, one big positive that can be seen in the past few weeks of resumption is the decision of the executive council and SRC to call for a congress. While it does not totally atone for the several indiscretions of Team Auspicious, it is hoped that the May 17 congress will help chart a new course towards bringing a new level of collaborative understanding and proper peace to our student union.
