List Of Illegal Universities In Nigeria With Known Addresses

1. University of Accountancy and Management Studies
41, Ikorodu Road, Jibowu,
Yaba, Lagos.

2. Concept College London
CITEC Villa Junction,
Gwarinpa, Abuja.

3. Imo State University
(Illegal Study & Degree-awarding Centre) Garki Primary School
Behind UTC, Area 10, Abuja.

4. Logos Institute (Illegally affiliated Olabisi Onabanjo University) 9, African Church Road, Ifako Ijaiye, Lagos.
Director: Pastor Femi Majekodunmi

5.Open University of Nigeria C/o Notitia Tutorial Centre, No. 5, Dar-es Salem Crescent, Wuse II Abuja
Coordinator: Larry James

6. Mr. David Lornem
New Idea Management Consultants & Open Learning Network, 18/19 Ahmadu Bello Way, NNDC Building Kaduna.

7. Imo State University (Illegal Satellite Campus) Lucia Group of Schools Ibusa Road, Asaba.

8. Temple University Orozo, Abuja. (Proprietors are already facing trial at Karu Magistrate Court)

9. Volta University College
No. 13, Okehie Street, Aba.

10. Abia State University (Illegal Study Centre) International Secondary School, Aba.

11. Triumphal University, Omugbo town, Orumba North LGA, Anambra.

12. Rockville University Uburu, Ohaozara LGA, Ebonyi State.

13. Royal University Izhia,
Abakaliki.

14. University of Caribbean
22, Agbarho Street,
Idi Iroko, opp Govt. College,
Ikorodu, Lagos.

15. Irish University Business School London (Anchor: Lobi Business School) 20, Old Otukpo Road, Makurdi.

16. University of Education Winneba Ghana a) 39A Ayilara Street, Ojuelegba, Lagos. b) Federal College of Education (Tech) Awka. c) Royal Star College, Lawanson, Surulere – Lagos.

17. Irish University Business School Doseg International College, Akin Mateola Street, Amuwo Odofin, Lagos.
Promoter: Envoy Consulting Limited,
10, Calcutta Crescent, Apapa, Lagos.

18. Christ Message International University, 174/178, Okota Road, Isolo, Lagos.

19. University of Nigeria (Illegal study centre) a) Ansar-Udeen Grammar School,
Randle Avenue, Surulere, Lagos.
b) Hanaco Plaza, 113 Ikorodu Road,
Fadeyi, Lagos.

20. University of Ibadan (Illegal Campus)
Agent: Quality Merchandise Associates
5, Emmaneul Kolawole Street, Somolu, Lagos. Lecture centres: i) Bright Future College Somolu, Lagos.
ii) St. Margaret, Comprehensive College, Agboju, Lagos.

21. Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (Illegal Campuses)
Agent: Quality Merchandise Associates
Lecture centres: i) Bright Future College Somolu, Lagos.
ii) St. Margaret, Comprehensive College, Agboju, Lagos
iii) Victory College, Abule Onigagbo, Ikeja.
iv) Topmost Collge, 3 Ikorodu Road, Maryland, Lagos.

22. North Central University
KM4, Otukpo – Adoka Road,
Otukpo, Benue State.

23. University of Applied Management, Germany
Agent: Dr. Martins Gyambrah
Cambridge College of Arts and Science,
6, Ikole Street, off Gimbiya street,
Area 11, Abuja.

24. Luminar International Centre for Health and Alternative Medicine
a) 16 Nkwubor Road, Enugu.
b) Ekpuinto Mgbowo Autonomous Community, Awgu, Enugu State.

25. Houdegbe North America University
Pioneer School of Management,
Airport Road, Kano.
Agent: Mr. Jibril – 07040044859

26. The International Universities (TIU) Missouri
Pioneer School of Management,
Airport Road, Kano.
Agent: Mr. Jibril – 07040044859

27. Pilgrims University
5/7 Okpu Umuobo Road
Opp. Union Bank, Umungasi,
Aba. 07082801611

28. EC Council University
No. 5, Babatola Drive,
Off Obafemi Awolowo Way, Ikeja.
CEO: Tim Akano – 017901013.

29. Atlas University
Agent: Southland College of Tech
50, Zik Avenue, Uwani, Enugu.
08086673378.

30. Halifax Gateway University
20, Aranle Street, Surulere, Lagos.

31. Urban University College of Nigeria
88, Afikpo Road, Abakaliki.

32. Christ Alive Christian Seminary & University
No. 48, Kenneth Street,
Agbani Road, Enugu.

33. Atlanta International University i/c Best Choirce Consult Ltd., 21, Aguta Road, Opp. CKC Okija.

34. Christians of Charity American
University of Science and Technology
No. 2, Oshimili Street,
3rd Floor, Off old Enugu Road, Nkpor.

35. Atlanta Univeristy
CMML Secondary School,
Ayagba, Kogi State.

36. Samuel Ahmadu University
C/o Govt. Sec. School, Makurdi.

37. Atlas University
Uko Eshet Street, Ikot Usoso,
Oku – Uyo.

38. Concept College London
No. 15 Abdul’Azeez Atta Road
Opposite B Division, Surulere,
Ilorin.

39. Royal Institute of Continuing Education
(Illegally running degree of AAU, Akungba Akoko) 70, Station Road,
Osogbo, Osun State.
Lecture Centres: a) Old Children Boarding School, Osogbo.
b) Fakunle Grammar School, Osogbo.

40. Federal College of Complementary & Alternative Medicine of Nigeria
No. 4, Bujumbura Street,
Off Libreville Crescent, Wuse II, Abuja.

41. Richmond Open University
Arochukwu, Abia State.

Full text of Borno governor’s speech after the State of Emergency declaration

Dear fellow citizens, I address you today with heavy heart and grief. I join you in mourning your families, friends and other loved ones who may have lost their lives to the security challenges that we face in Borno State; I commiserate with you for the injuries, you or your loved ones may have suffered and for the properties you may have lost as we are confronted with a nightmare that has haunted us for far too long.

I am usually thrown into emotional torture any time a life is lost in Borno especially by man-made brutality because as your Governor, I am under obligation, constitutional and moral, to ensure your safety. As your leader, I consider myself a father to all orphans, a brother and friend to everyone of you, a son to every parent and a member of every family in Borno State regardless of religion, tribe and geo-political affiliation. I share in your moments of despair more than you can ever imagine because regardless of the intrinsic worth of any programme and projects put in place by any government, however laudable, a citizen has to be alive or safe to enjoy the benefits of such programme or project. Therefore, the most important role of any responsible government is the security of lives and properties.

Fellow citizens, as you may be aware, the President, Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has in exercise of his constitutional powers, declared a State of Emergency in our dear State, following the spate of killings and destructions of properties, that have pervaded us. It is the constitutional responsibility of the President to take such measures. It is also the duty of any responsible State government, to support lawful efforts that would guarantee the security of lives and properties. It can never be the wish of any guarded democratic government to have the military directly involved in the affairs of any federating unit except for unfortunate and painful causes. As the military leaders have said in discourses, the armory of the Nigerian soldiers is not meant to fight fellow Nigerians, the armory is meant to protect fellow Nigerians.

A human life is sacred, more so, the life of every good Nigerian, no matter whose’ it is; and we all have moral, spiritual and social obligations to preserve and respect the lives of one another as we would want ours to be so preserved and respected. Allah has said emphatically in the Holy Quran that he has dignified every human being, He has placed high premium on the sacredness of human lives and as His dignified creatures; we should obediently respect the lives of fellow creatures. Let us be our brothers’ keepers, hold our arms in the true Borno spirit that we were hitherto known for, so that we rise together as one people with shared passion for our collective progress. We are facing a trying time that I believe without blind optimism, that we will overcome in no distant time bi iznillah.

A period of State of emergency is that which comes with rules that are different from those that guide our day to day lives. We must therefore, take personal steps as citizens, to avoid being caught by the strange rules. I have directed the State Ministry of Home Affairs, Information and Culture to work out public safety enlightenment programmes that should be regularly featured on the Borno State Television and Radio while I urge our partners and friends in other media organizations resident in the State to help in educating citizens on public conducts at this different time that we face together.

Let me use this opportunity to importantly urge the military who are fellow Nigerians like all of us, to abide by the directive of Mr. President, in operating under the rules of engagement so that innocent lives and their properties are jealously preserved and protected.

As time passes, we shall as a Government, remain focused in our abiding fate and commitment to improve the welfare of all citizens through quality governance.

I will seize this opportunity for the umpteenth time, to call on our brothers in the Jama’atu ahliss Sunnah lil Da’awatu wal Jihad to embrace dialogue so that we can solve this problem on the table through collective bargaining, offers and compromises. I am glad to note that the Presidential Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution, is still working round the clock as also emphasized by the President. I believe like I have always said since 2011, that by the end of the day, dialogue will be the last and sustainable resort. Let us embrace the spirit of live and let’s live.

May I also add at the risk of sounding repetitive, that the best way to fight crime is to provide jobs through integrated agriculture and other industrial growth. We are very conscious of the fact that there is mass poverty and unemployment and as you may have confirmed from our ongoing programmes across the State, we are creating jobs and we will continue to do.

I urge you to fervently pray for the return of peace in our dear Borno State and in all other parts of Nigeria, to pave the way for rapid recovery and the socio-economic transformation that we so desperately seek to put in place as a Government.

I thank you so much for your support and wish every one of you, Allah’s guidance and protection.

Long live Borno State!

Kashim Shettima

Governor

Complete Text of President Goodluck Jonathan's National Address Declaring State of Emergency in 3 Northern States

Dear compatriots,

1. It has become necessary for me to address you on the recent spate of terrorist activities and protracted security challenges in some parts of the country, particularly in Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, Gombe, Bauchi, Kano, Plateau and most recently Bayelsa, Taraba, Benue and Nasarawa states. These unfortunate events have led to needless loss of lives and property of many innocent Nigerians including members of our security forces.

2. The recent killing of security operatives by a cult group in Nasarawa state is particularly condemnable. I have directed that no effort or expense be spared in identifying and bringing to justice all those who had a hand in the killing of the operatives.

3. The activities of insurgents and terrorists have been reprehensible, causing fear among our citizens and a near-breakdown of law and order in parts of the country, especially the North. We have taken robust steps to unravel and address the root causes of these crises, but it would appear that there is a systematic effort by insurgents and terrorists to destabilize the Nigerian state and test our collective resolve.

4. Since I returned to the country after cutting short my visit to South Africa and aborting a planned state visit to Namibia, I have received detailed briefings from our security agencies. These briefings indicate that what we are facing is not just militancy or criminality, but a rebellion and insurgency by terrorist groups which pose a very serious threat to national unity and territorial integrity. Already, some northern parts of Borno state have been taken over by groups whose allegiance is to different flags and ideologies.

5. These terrorists and insurgents seem determined to establish control and authority over parts of our beloved nation and to progressively overwhelm the rest of the country. In many places, they have destroyed the Nigerian flag and other symbols of state authority and in their place, hoisted strange flags suggesting the exercise of alternative sovereignty.

6. They have attacked government buildings and facilities. They have murdered innocent citizens and state officials. They have set houses ablaze, and taken women and children as hostages. These actions amount to a declaration of war and a deliberate attempt to undermine the authority of the Nigerian state and threaten her territorial integrity. As a responsible government, we will not tolerate this.

7. Previously, we adopted a multi-track approach to the resolution of this problem through actions which included persuasion, dialogue and widespread consultation with the political, religious and community leaders in the affected states.

8. We exercised restraint to allow for all efforts by both State Governors and well-meaning Nigerians to stop the repeated cases of mindless violence.

9. Yet, the insurgents and terrorists seek to prevent government from fulfilling its constitutional obligations to the people as they pursue their fanatical agenda of mayhem, mass murder, division and separatism.

10. While the efforts at persuasion and dialogue will continue, let me reiterate that we have a sacred duty to ensure the security and well-being of all our people and protect the sovereign integrity of our country. Therefore, we shall, on no account, shy away from doing whatever becomes necessary to provide the fullest possible security for the citizens of this country in any part of the country they choose to reside.

11. We have a duty to stand firm against those who threaten the sovereign integrity of the Nigerian state. Our will is strong, because our faith lies in the indivisibility of Nigeria.

12. Following recent developments in the affected states, it has become necessary for Government to take extraordinary measures to restore normalcy. After wide consultations, and in exercise of the powers conferred on me by the provisions of Section 305, sub-section 1 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended, I hereby declare a State of Emergency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states.

13. Accordingly, the Chief of Defence Staff has been directed to immediately deploy more troops to these states for more effective internal security operations. The troops and other security agencies involved in these operations have orders to take all necessary action, within the ambit of their rules of engagement, to put an end to the impunity of insurgents and terrorists.

14. This will include the authority to arrest and detain suspects, the taking of possession and control of any building or structure used for terrorist purposes, the lock-down of any area of terrorist operation, the conduct of searches, and the apprehension of persons in illegal possession of weapons.

15. The details of this Proclamation will be transmitted to the National Assembly in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution. But in the meantime, let me make it clear that within the purview of this Proclamation, the Governors and other political office holders in the affected states will continue to discharge their constitutional responsibilities.

16. I urge the political leadership in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states to co-operate maximally with the Armed Forces and the Police to ensure that the exercise succeeds. We call on the citizenry to co-operate with our security agencies to ensure a return to normalcy within the shortest possible time.

17. I am again approaching our neighbouring countries, through diplomatic channels, as done in the recent past, for their co-operation in apprehending any terrorist elements that may escape across the border.

18. Nigerians are peace-loving people; these sad events perpetrated by those who do not wish our nation well have not changed the essential character of our people.

19. I want to reassure you all that those who are directly or indirectly encouraging any form of rebellion against the Nigerian state, and their collaborators; those insurgents and terrorists who take delight in killing our security operatives, whoever they may be, wherever they may go, we will hunt them down, we will fish them out, and we will bring them to justice. No matter what it takes, we will win this war against terror.

20. I am convinced that with your support and prayers, we shall overcome these challenges and together, we will restore every part of our country to the path of peace, growth and development.

Long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Sarkin Yakin NANS cautions Youths and Students to be vigilant in Nasarawa State

OMBATSE: Sarkin Yakin NANS cautions Youths and Students to be vigilant in Nasarawa State
Former Students leader and Nasarawa State Gubernatorial aspirant in the next coming 2015 general election Comrade Abubakar Yusuf Doma, has charged Students and Youths across the State, especially those specifically targeted by the Ombatse cults, to kill to be security conscious at all time.
Comrade Doma who described the recent attacks on the men of the Nigeria Police Force and State Security Service that led to the death of over 50 Security operatives in Nasarawa State as unfortunate, insensitive and callous, urged the security agencies and the State Government to beef up security around the State as a proactive measure to protect lives and properties of students, Youths and citizenry of the State in order to avoid further occurrence of the same crisis.

“It is quite unfortunate that at a time like this we are experiencing security threats that borders on lives and property in our State, while we are yet to understand the agitation of the OMBATSE, they have gone to the extent of killing Security operatives, as such I want to condemn the killing in the strongest term”.
Continuing, the former Students leader said, “I want to put it on record that we should not allow ourselves as Youth to be used by the politicians for their selfish personal interest which will not be of benefit to the future of our dear State.
Furthermore, “I want to use this platform to plead with the wives of the Nigeria Police Force that loss their husbands, to temper justice with mercy as the top officers of the Nigeria Police force are trying their best to brings those responsible for this ungodly acts to book within the shortest period of time and may Allah in his infinite mercy grants families of the deceased the fortitude to bear this irreparable loss.
He equally commended President Goodluck Jonathan; IG MD Abubakar, Commissioner of Police Mr Abayomi Akarede and the State Director of SSS Alhaji Halilu Musa Umar for taking a decisive action to investigate on the immediate causes of the crisis.

Re: NANS condemns Niger Delta youth over threats on Tambuwal

The National Association of Niger Delta Student(NANDS) has warned the National Association of Nigeria Student (NANS) to desist from putting them self together with the oppression being vested upon the the Niger Delta WAR LORD Alhaji Mujaheed Dukubor Asari and Comrade Kingsley Kuku the Special Adviser to the President on Amnesty Matters.
Comrade Ughere Blessed. National president of the National Association of the Niger Delta Student(NANDS) speaking yesterday at Edo state Benin city says "the president and the officials of National Association of Nigeria Student (NANS) gave that statement on their own and so did not speak the minds of the Nigeria Student, as it was suppose to be in the student unionism struggle. And that it is an aberration to the aluta spirit being spoken of in the Nigeria Universities and other higher institutes in the country.for the student to be against the statement of Alhaji Mujaheed Abubakri Dokubo Asari and DR Kingsley Kuku,it is a taboo to aluta Struggle. stating the case of the former Head of State Mohammed Buhari and kaita. That threaten even more than any of this two has done no arrest was made. then why should the case of the Niger Deltans be different and so has warned the Northerners and who so ever is invovle not to dare the case of the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. hence it is going to be the case of the film title "HOTEL RUWANDA" the Hutus and Tutsis or the ruwands Genocide.
ALUTA CONTINUA
VICTORIA ACCERTA

NANS condemns Niger Delta youth over threats on Tambuwal

The Niger Delta youth have asked the President to check the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
The National Association of Nigeria Students, NANS, has condemned the alleged threats by youths from the Niger Delta on the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal.
The Niger Delta youth allegedly stormed Abuja in large numbers on Thursday to warn Mr. Tambuwal to stop the idea of investigating ex-militant, Asari Dokubo, and Presidential Adviser on Niger Delta, Kingsley Kuku, over their separate statements where they claimed that there would be no peace in Nigeria if President Goodluck Jonathan is not allow to pursue his presidential ambition come 2015.
The Vice President, National Affairs of NANS, Ahmad Jibril, in a statement on Thursday faulted the actions of the Niger Delta youth, pointing out that the act was capable of thwarting and disrupting the fragile peace in the country.
“Leadership of the National Association of Nigeria Students have clearly warned other groups and social sectors to kindly put into considerations the state of the nation before making public comments. We strongly believe that no body or group of people is above the laws of our dear country as no one or group of people have monopoly of violence. Therefore, the rule of law should always prevail,” Mr. Jibrl said.
The statement added, “The National Assembly has the right to summon anybody when it deems it fit for such including the president. Social groups should learn not to be used as tools by politicians or groups of unfocused persons. Messrs Kuku and Dokubo are all public servants serving in this present administration, directly affiliated to the presidency; as such, their choice of words have to been carefully monitored.”
“If not in a country like Nigeria, where have you seen a terrorist or rebel honored or even (appointed to a post) by the same country he has attacked before and yet threatens to attack again?” the student union leader lamented.
The said Niger Delta youth, under the aegis of the South-South Restoration Forum, asked President Jonathan and the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to call the Mr. Tambuwal to order “so as not to provoke their anger.”
According to the leader of the youth group, Selekaye Ben, Mr. Tambuwal is biased against the people of the South-South, judging by his disposition to issues involving the region.
Mr. Ben said, “We call on the President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, the national leadership of the PDP and the President of the Senate to call the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal and his team to put an end to any form of intimidation of the people of the South- South zone of Nigeria on National issues. Every Nigerian irrespective of tribe, language, region or religion has equal right and to freedom of expression as enshrined in our constitution, and no individual or group has the sole right to intimidate another group or region under the guise of carrying out his functions.
“How come Tambuwal and Ali Sani Madaki never called for investigation or arrest of Gen. Ibrahim Babangida when he publicly called on Tambuwal to seek for a higher office in 2015 when he knew that there was no vacancy in the Aso Villa? Are all these and many more statements that have been publicly made by people from the North not provocative enough for Tambuwal and his cohorts to call for their arrest and investigation?
“We, the people of the South-South know Tambuwal’s game plan and who he is working for but they should know that we as a people cannot be intimidated by anybody or group in this country.”

ARREST ME AND NIGERIA WILL BE HISTORY - Dokubo dares

ARREST ME AND NIGERIA WILL BE HISTORY - Dokubo dares 

Responding to the recent call for his arrest, Asari Dokubo has dared the high and mighty to arrest him and watch Nigeria scatter to pieces. Speaking with journalists on Wednesday, he reiterated his position on 2015 Presidency and more. 

“I stand by my statement which I made in my early press conference. There will be no peace, not only in the Niger Delta, but everywhere, if Goodluck Jonathan is not president by 2015.

“I want to refresh your memories with comments made by these northerners, who had in the time past threatened war and break-up of Nigeria.

“In 2010, one Lawal Kaita said and I quote: ‘Anything short of a Northern President is tantamount to stealing our Presidency. Jonathan has to go and he will go. Even if he uses the incumbency power to get his nomination on the platform of the PDP, he would be frustrated out…The North is determined, if that happens, to make the country ungovernable for President Goodluck Jonathan or any other Southerner who finds his way to the seat of power on the platform of the PDP against the principle of the party’s zoning policy’.

“Today insurgent groups, in furtherance to Kaita’s call a’re wreaking havoc, attacking military barracks and seizing weapon, but we will not sit and watch. Kaita made this statement, nobody arrested or call for the arrest of this fellow, today he is walking free.

“Buhari made this statement in 2011, he was never arrested and nobody ever called for his arrest. In other countries, former leaders are being tried, but here, a man who overthrew a legitimate government, continues to threaten us with blood and nothing has happened.”

“I am not afraid of arrest. I am saying it bold and clear without mincing words, that the consequences of my arrest, Nigeria will be history.

“The last time Obasanjo arrested me, my arrest reduced Nigeria oil production to 700,000 barrels per day. This time, it will reduce it to zero barrel, and we will match violence with violence, intrigues with intrigues. We are ready for them. Goodluck Jonathan will complete his tenure of two terms, whether they like it or not.

“I am daring them to arrest me if they can. If they don’t, they are cowards and shame on them.”

JOS BASED LAWYER SEEKS JUSTICE FROM POLICE BRUTALITY

JOS BASED LAWYER SEEKS JUSTICE FROM POLICE BRUTALITY
21st  day of December 2012, a young lawyer Mr Michael Alloy Dawam Esq. went to performed the duty of the best man at his friend’s wedding, which went smoothly until towards the end of the wedding reception ceremony which took place at waters ways resort, bukuru low cost, in Jos.

Mr  Dawam together with the groom and some friends stayed back to sort out all remaining

outstanding issues with the management of the resort. At about 6.30pm, A certain individual who will later be identified as DSP Afegbai,  came to the venue of the reception in mufti in the company

of two ladies. On entering the premises, the said DSP Afegbai was introduce to the groom and they

exchanged pleasantries. Shortly thereafter, DSP Afegbai got to the spot where some friends of the

Groom were seated and asked that the table be removed to give him access to pass. One of the friends

Of the groom Mr Joachim responded that there was enough space and that people have been using the said access without complaints. One of the ladies with DPS Afegbai, resorted by asking Mr.Joachim if he knew who he is talking to and he answered in the negative. Thereon in apparent and brazen displayed of power and brute force,DSP Afegbai, splapped the said Joachim as introduction of who he is, Mr.Joachim made to inquire the reason for the slap, but some  of the other friends of the groom intervened and pacified Mr.Joachim.

DPS Afegbai, was held back from further assaulting Mr. Joachim, and was being taken away from the premises, when to the surprise of everyone DPS turned round, pulled out a pistol aim and shot at the crowd. The gun shot apparently aimed at Mr. Joachim met Mr Michael Alloy Dawam Esq.



Mr Dawam  who was oblivious of the happenings within the premises, and was not even seated close

to where the exchange or avoidable confusion took place and was not party to the discussions between

Mr. Joachim, DSP Afegbai and the two ladies.



Mr Dawam immediately slumped upon being hit by the bullet from the gun shot of DSP Afegbai, and he exclaimed that he had been shot. Security personal,who heard the gun shot came into the premises, and together in the company of DSP Afegbai, drove our him to the hospital, his friends also accompanied them to plateau state Specialist Hospital.

Ater series of X-ray tests and blood transfusion were taken on our colleague, he was referred to the

Jos University Teaching Hospital for additional medical attention. he remained in the hospital

until the 31st day of December 2012, when he was discharged, and give further appointment as an out-patient. And since then he has been in and out of the hospital with his medical bill pilling up.

On one of the medical review visits, the Doctors upon observation readmitted Mr Dawam to address certain medical issues arising from complications from the gun shot injury. he was again placed on admission for an additional seven days for the evacuation of fluids said to have accumulated close to his lungs. At the point of discharged he was given a three week medical check appointment. On his return to the hospital again, no proper examination could be undertaken as his medical file was said to have been collected by the police. As part of the medical review, he had to undergo fresh x-rays tests. These X-rays reveal with worry that his health is in jeopardy.

It is amazed to note that despite the promises made to address the illegality of the shooting, nothing has been done, or said towards dealing with the illegal use of firearm or regarding the conclusion of the police investigation into this matter. Clearly it does not appear as though the Force is taking this gross misconduct seriously.

However, it is instructive to note that the commissioner of Police commendably held a meeting with some members of the executive of the Jos Branch of the Bar Association and the principal of the office where Mr Dawam works while he was still on admission in January 2013,

The commissioner among others assured the meeting that everything will be done to ensure that the shooting of Mr Dawam is addressed in accordance with the rule of law and due process. Thereafter, the commissioner of Police also paid a visit to our colleague and promised that the matter would be adequately investigated and action taken on the DSP Afegbai but to the lawyers association’s surprise

Dsp Afegbai was seen been driven round the city in Police Van as O/C of SARS.

The case is in court and has been adjourned from hearing on the 21st of this month.

In summary, Mr Alloy Dawam is hanging  unto the fragile hope that the police is still a friend to the society as we await your prompt action on this matter.

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DVC of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa varsity dies

The death has occurred of Deputy Vice Chancellor Academic of the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), Bauchi Professor Muhammad Ibrahim Onogu.
A statement by ATBU Principal Public Relations Officer Zailani Bappa said the Onogu died at Ni’ima Hospital Bauchi yesterday after a brief illness.
Born in Okene in Kogi State on January 15, 1957, Professor Onogu joined the services of ATBU on September 16, 1986 as lecturer II and rose through the ranks to become Professor of electrical and electronics engineering on October 1, 1999.
He was at one time coordinator and dean at School of Engineering and Engineering Technology as well as served as Chairman of the University Convocation Committee of the university.

Polytechnic students threaten nationwide protests

The National Association of Polytechnic Students, NAPS, has threatened to mobilise students for protests in campuses nationwide within the next two weeks should the Federal Government fail to resolve its differences with striking lecturers.

Polytechnic lecturers, under the aegis of Academic Staff Union of Polytechnic, ASUP, are currently on strike to compel government to implement agreements it had with their union.

NAP National President, Fawale Oluwole Jacob, who issued the threat in a statement, also appealed to ASUP not to be too severe in its demands on government, even as he urged the Federal Government to address the lecturers’ demands.

According to him, “If the strike is not called off within two weeks, they will have to mobilise for peaceful mass rallies and campus protests to demand for urgent attention.

“We call on all Nigerian students to participate actively in this movement to rescue our future. The emphasis is on peaceful protests and rallies while refusing to be intimidated.

“While we are yet to understand why we suffer in the midst of plenty considering the fact that Nigeria is among the top ten producers of crude oil in the world, we cannot further accept the inability of our lazy leaders to think outside the box and realise that ‘’education is power.”

Nigerian Varsities and their Jamb/UTME cut-off marks for 2013/2014

Following the release of results for the just-written Jamb UTME exams, these are the cut-off marks for the various tertiary institutions across the country.

=> University of Port Harcourt, UNIPORT: 200 and above for Dentistry,Pharmacy, Engineering (except Civil & Environmental Engineering), Management Sciences,Medicine, Nursing and Social Sciences; 180 and above for others are invited to a Screening Exercise First Choice and Second Choice.
=> Nnamdi Azikiwe University, NAU/UNIZIK: 180 Arts (except Departments of English & History )and Education 200 for others
=> Federal University of Technology Owerri, FUTO: 180 First and Second Choice.
=> University of Ibadan UI: 200 First and Second Choice Most preferred
=> University of Lagos Unilag: 200 all courses, First Choice only
=> University of Nigeria, Nsukka, UNN: 200 all courses; first and second Choice.
=> Obafemi Awolowo University OAU: 200; first and second choice =
> Nnamdi Azikiwe University,NAU/ UNIZIK: 180 Arts (except Departments of English & History)and Education and 200 for others; first choice only.
=> University of Ilorin, Unilorin: – (i) 200 UTME for courses other than those listed in (5) O level Credits at not more than two sittings. (ii) 220 UTME for Accounting, Biochemistry, Business Administration, Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Computer Science, Common Law, Economics, English, Electrical Engineering, Finance, Geology, Industrial Chemistry, Mass Communication, Mechanical Engineering, Microbiology, Pharmacy and Veterinary Medicine & (5) O level Credits at not more than two sittings. (iii) MB;BS candidates who obtained: (a) 240 marks in the UTME and (b) Credit Passes at one sitting only in the Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination or its equivalence in each of the following subjects: English Language, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Biology.
=> University of Ado- Ekiti: 200;First and second choice
=> University of Benin, UNIBEN 200; first choice only
=> Ahmadu Bello University (ABU),Zaria: 180 for Science based courses and 190 for Arts, Social Science, Law and Administration; first choice only
=> Usmanu Danfodiyo University,Soko to: 180; First and second choice
=> Federal University of Technology, Akure FUTA: 200; first and second choice
=> University of Uyo, Uniuyo: 180;first choice only
=> University of Calabar Unical:180 for some courses and 200for others
=> University of Agriculture, Abeokuta UNAAB – 180
=> University of Jos UNIJOS: 180;first and second choice
=> Lagos State University LASU:200; first and second choice
=> Niger Delta University NDU: 180;first choice only
=> TAI Solarin University of Education TASUED: 180 first choice only and change of course
=> Federal University of Technology (FUT), Minna: (i) 220 for School of Engineering and Engineering Technology and Environmental Technology (ii) 200 for School of Environmental Technology and School of Science and Science Education (iii) 190 for School of Agriculture and Agricultural Technology and School of Science and Science Education.
=> Federal University Dutsin-Ma,Katsi na: 180; first choice only
=> Federal University Oye-Ekiti:180; first and second choice => Federal University of Wukari,Taraba State: 180 in theSciences and 190 in the hmanities and Social Sciences; first and second choice.
=> Federal University, Otuoke, Bayelsa State: 180; first and second choice. => Ebonyi State University EBSU:180; first and second choice
=> Osun State University (UNIOSUN): 180 for Agriculture,Edu cation and Arts (Humanities and Culture) and 200 for the rest; First and second choice.
=> Federal University of Petroleum Resources, Effurun: 180; first and second choice
=> Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike; 180; first and second choice. => Anambra State University; 180;first and second choice.
=> Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma: 180; first choice only
=> Kwara State University KWASU:200; first and second choice and changing of courses.
=> Afe Babalola University (ABUAD): No official cut-off mark.
=> Benson Idahosa University: No official cut- off mark.
=> Bells University of Technology,Ota: No cut- off mark, as long as you chose or wish to change course.
=> Kaduna State University, KASU:180 UTME cutoff (first choice only)
=> Imo State University IMSU: now Evan Enwerem University EEU : 180
=> Enugu State University of Science Tech – 180
=> Adekunle Ajasin University: 200
=> Rivers State University of Science and Technology,RSUS T:180 (1st choice only)
=> Delta State University, Abraka,DELSU: 180
=> Abia State University, Uturu,ABSUU: 180
=> University of Maiduguri, UniMaid: 180
=> Kogi State University, KSU: 180
=>Polytechnics and Colleges of Education 2012/2013 JAMB-UTME Cut-off mark List
=> Yaba College of Technology,Yaba Tech: 160
=> Auchi Polytechnic, Auchi: 180;most preferred, more preferred or preferred
=> Polytechnic Ibadan: No cut-off mark
Best of luck, Jambites!

Aluta Jihad 1986

Aluta jihad 1986

Students were a perpetual source of dissent. During the 1970s, the National Union of Nigerian Students (NUNS), a government-sanctioned federation of all student unions in Nigeria and of Nigerian students abroad, actively opposed government policies on several issues, including students' rights and educational conditions. In April 1978, NUNS instigated or participated in nationwide campus protests against increased university fees, during which police and army units killed or seriously wounded at least twenty students. The FMG responded by closing three universities indefinitely, by banning NUNS, and by appointing a commission of inquiry, after which several senior university officials and students were dismissed.

The next major round of violent student demonstrations occurred in May 1986, when police killed more than a dozen Ahmadu Bello University students protesting disciplinary action against student leaders observing "Ali Must Go" Day (referring to the minister of education), in memory of students killed in the 1978 demonstration. Disorders spread rapidly to other campuses across the country. The government imposed a national ban on demonstrations and closed nine of Nigeria's fifteen universities, which were not reopened until July. The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), founded in 1980 to replace the banned NUNS and itself theoretically banned as a result of the May 1986 riots, called for dismissals of government, university, and police officials. Its call was supported by the NLC. After a commission of inquiry, the government accepted some recommendations for removals but dissolved all student unions for the remainder of the academic year. NANS, however, rejected the commission's findings and, in May 1987, five universities were closed in connection with campus incidents involving remembrances of the anniversary of Ahmadu Bello University student slayings the year before.

In February 1988, the government closed Ahmadu Bello University and the University of Nigeria campuses at Nsukka and Enugu and narrowly averted a NANS-supported nationwide student strike by rescinding a decision to try nine Nsukka students for arson and property damage. Two months later, five universities were shut down after student riots in Jos to protest a 3-percent rise in gasoline prices, during which several persons, including two police offices died. Between May and July 1989, student riots in several southern states again led to closure of several universities and a secondary school and forced Babangida to cancel an official visit to France. Student rioters in Benin City, joined by townspeople, burned vehicles, government buildings, and two prisons from which about 600 inmates escaped; the riot was put down by police and army units two days later. Rioting soon spread to Ibadan and Lagos, where soldiers again were called in to restore order; to Obafemi Awolowo University School of Agriculture's Akure campus near Ibadan, where about seventy students were arrested; and to the College of Agriculture in Yande, near Loko, in Benue State. The government closed six schools until March 1990 but permitted them to reopen on October 30 after requiring returning students to sign a formal pledge of good behavior. To deter further student unrest, in early 1990 the AFRC issued Decree Number 47. It imposed a five-year jail term and/or a N50,000 fine on any student found guilty of organizing or participating in demonstrations, set up special tribunals to try offenders, and again banned the NANS.

Data as of June 1991

Alli Must Go. (an Eye witness)

Alli Must Go by the Count
Every Nigerian worth his salt knows that cry – ALLI MUST GO! It was the cry that defined the strike action that swept the whole country during the education crises in the late seventies, 1978 to be exact. The country was at the tail end of military rule under General Obasanjo and his Education Minister then was Colonel Ahmadu Alli. Yes the same Alli who became Chairman of PDP, purportedly the largest Political Party in Africa!

There had been crises since February 1971 when Kunle Adepeju a Student Union leader was shot dead by anti-riot policemen in front of Zik Hall at the University of Ibadan during a peaceful protest. It was also the crises that first brought the great Gani Fawehinmi into the limelight when he defended some of the students at the Judicial Panel of Inquiry set up to investigate the causes of the killing. Students went on peaceful marches each year on the anniversary of his death with disastrous results. The police put down such protests with violence each time with great casualties.

By the time school fees were introduced into the Federal university system in 1978, riots broke out across all the Universities with Ahmadu Bello University and University of Lagos being the hotbeds of the resistance. Police used live bullets and teargas to quell such uprisings, firing canisters at point-blank range into student’s faces and chests to injure them. It was during one such suppression that a student and then Head of State, General Obasanjo’s godson Akintunde Ojo was shot dead by police at the University of Lagos gates. Nine students were shot dead at Ahmadu Bello University by police that same day. A sympathetic Unilag Vice chancellor, Professor J.F. Ade-Ajayi was subsequently sacked for attending Adepeju’s funeral by military authorities.

Funnily enough, I had ‘front row seats’ at two of the major riots. The first being the riot of 1972 at the University of Lagos and quite by accident as a Secondary school student. The second time, I was a major participant at the ‘Ali Must Go’ riots of 1978 at the University of Ife. Since you insist, let me tell you about both.

_____________________ _ ______ __ ___________________


It was in February 1972 and I was in Form Three at Igbobi College, Yaba. I think there was a lull in school activities because we did not have to cut classes. Three of us Olus (Olu Adegoke, Olu Banwo and I) decided to go to the University of Lagos to visit the older cousin of one of us who resided in one of the Male Hostels close to the Lagoon. We did not realize that it coincided with the first Anniversary of Kunle Adepeju’s death and that the students had planned a demonstration for that day. The government authorities apparently knew and had marshalled government forces to quell the expected uprising.

We were being entertained by Olu Adegoke’s cousin in his room when we heard the first explosions of teargas canisters and salvos of gunshots. The entire hostel immediately went into a panic and everyone girded themselves for action. The sound seemed to be coming from the direction of the main gate to the campus. Soon, news filtered in from those that had rushed in from the gate that there were armed Anti-riot policemen storming the campus through the main gate and they were firing teargas canisters directly at students injuring some of them.

We felt like crying. It was not our fight and we were only fifteen years old. This was way, way above our heads. We were too young to die! We decided to flee towards the Lagoon front along with the undergraduates who were not keen on confronting the police. But then we heard booming sounds and gunshots from the Lagoon front also. It turned out the police had decided on a two pronged attack of the campus from the front and the rear. They were coming via the lagoon front by motorboats we were told. We did not wait to verify. The sounds were proof enough.

The only way out was through the impenetrable swamp that bordered one side of the campus and was several kilometers wide. We knew it was infested with crocodiles, snakes and all manner of dangerous creatures but we had no choice. When we got to the edge of the swamp, the older and bolder undergrads plunged in while we stood unsure of what to do. Suddenly we heard the boom of teargas guns near us. It seemed the police were chasing us and were very close behind! We plunged into the swamp without further ado. It reached up to our knees, it was vile and smelly and there were all manner of dangerous looking insects I had never before seen. Mosquitoes swarmed around us and bit us ceaselessly. Movement was tedious and the swamp sucked at our legs as we pulled them out of the mud for each laborious step forward. We broke branches off trees with which we tested the ground in front of us before we advanced for fear of stepping into a deep bog or a patch of quicksand. Soon the older students with longer and stronger legs left us behind and we did not know in which direction they had gone as the mud evened out seconds after someone stepped out of it. We forged on nevertheless, fleeing the booming sounds behind us until we had penetrated more than a kilometer into the swamp and the sounds were dying behind us. We were safe from the police but now we were lost in the swamps! We had no idea in which direction we should move.

We felt that since the swamp led to the open sea, then to move towards Akoka, we had to keep heading towards our left. we did so until we came to a large wide stream. It looked deep and dangerous and we came to a halt trying to decide what to do. Suddenly along came a large canoe paddled by a young and beautiful Ilaje woman wearing nothing other than a pair of men’s swimming shorts. At another time and another place our adolescent interest would have perked up but this was no time for foolishness. We hailed her and she stopped without any consciousness of her naked state. We explained to her that we were running from police who were attacking the campus and we needed to get to the other side of the river. Without hesitation she paddled to where we were and bade us get in. She ferried us all across the small river in no time and showed us the direction to go in order to get to Akoka.

It took us another two hours of wading through deep mud sometimes getting high up on our thighs to get to dry land. Olu Adegoke had the worst of it all as he was the smallest of us and the mud threatened to reach his waist. We feared leeches and kept looking out for them on our legs. We were lucky not to find any. We saw mudfish, toads and frogs of every size and description and at one point saw a huge snake sliding away into the undergrowth as we approached noisily. The smell was overwhelming and we finally understood the statement made in his funny accent by our Indian teacher that, “Hydrogen Sulphide smells like rotten eggs”. The experience was frightening and exhilarating at the same time. We were high on adrenaline and did not tire despite all our exertions.

We finally emerged at a remote building site where we used the not so clean well water to wash the filth off our legs and clothes. It would do till we got back to school. The labourers told us we had reached an area adjacent to ‘Chemist bus stop’, close to Bariga. We eventually wended our way into the main community from the isolated site on the edge of the swamps. Shortly after, we found our way back to the school compound where we told our afternoon’s escapades to an incredulous audience.
_____________________ _ ______ __ ___________________

My second experience with ‘Aluta!’ as students call any struggle after the Angolan revolutionary cry, “Aluta Continua, Victoria ascerta” (The struggle continues, victory is certain) was planned and intended. I was an undergraduate in my third year at the University of Ife. The all Nigeria Student riots to protest against the action of the Minister of Education Ahmadu Ali were in the third day. Anti-riot policemen had sealed off the campus gates and were not allowing anyone in or out. Students would gather along Road One, the main access to the campus just beyond the reach of the Policemen’s bullets and Teargas guns. From there they would chant, sing taunting songs and hurl missiles at the policemen.

A group of students decided to find a way to bypass the police cordons at both the front and back gates to the campus and take the protest into town. I joined them. We were about 200 in all. Someone knew of a bush path about halfway between both gates, a distance of about 6 kilometers trek that would bring us smack into the town centre just by the market. Carrying sticks and clubs, we half-ran, half-walked the distance in no time at all. Going in a group like that we did not notice the suffocating midday heat or the discomfort of cuts and bruises while creating a wider bush path as we overflowed beyond the existing one. We soon burst out into the market chanting,

‘ALLI MUST GO! ALLI MUST GO! ALLI MUST GO!’

Soon the market women joined in our march and were equally shouting,

“ALLI MUNGO! ALLI MUNGO!”

It would have been hilarious if we had not been on the warpath. We stormed across the city centre to the High Court where a trial was going on. We disrupted proceedings and forced the Judge to say, “ALLI MUST GO!” before we left the Court premises. He said it with an alacrity that belied the compulsion which we seemed to have put him under. I suspect he was sympathetic.

As we streamed out of the High Court heading for the next target which was the Oni’s Palace, someone shouted, “The Police are coming. Run!” and headed in the opposite direction from which we had intended. Everyone immediately followed him except me. I’ve never been one for running blindly. It may be like a death-wish but that’s the way I’m built. You never know, one could actually be joining the Lemmings and running into danger. I have to see what I’m running from. I peeped around the corner from which the guy had just come and saw a detachment of police, about fifty-men strong swerving to take a parallel route with the one my comrades had just taken. That way they would cut them off at the top of the road where the junctions meet.

As soon as I had seen the last of the policemen run to the left, I ran down the hill in the direction that they had come from. Within a short while I heard the sounds of shooting of teargas and guns behind me. I needed to get far away! I flagged down a passing motorbike and told the Ife indigene I was a student and I had to get back to campus. Willingly he agreed to take me to campus for free and was on the lookout for police all the time. The Ife town people had sympathy for us all the way and did their best to help students. As I heard later, they harboured as many who sought sanctuary with them, hiding them until it was safe to move around.

As we approached the campus gate by the old road in order to avoid any police patrols, we saw a large detachment of police at the campus gate. He obviously could not drop me there so he drove down the road about half a kilometer towards Ede and I entered the thick bush once again thanking him profusely. I eventually emerged a long way from the gate but still beyond the limit of the Students’ barrage.

A small Suzuki jeep with three students all dressed in black took off from the Student’s barricade and came to pick me up. I knew them as guys I greeted and had suspected they belonged to a campus fraternity. As we drove back to the barricade, I told them the story of how we had stormed the town and I had escaped getting caught by the police. They exclaimed at how “rugged” I was and how I should join their fraternity at the next recruitment exercise.

“You’re the kind of person we want”.

I was naturally flattered but it still took another two years to study them and what they stood for. I had not shunned all the aimless social campus clubs whose only goal was to arrange dances only to join a bunch of misfits. They had to have a purpose and they had to be clean and bereft of all the horrific innuendo that people spread about them for me to contribute to their cause.

The stalemate with government went on for a little while more but I did not join anyone in any foray out into the town after that. We had lost the element of surprise and anywhere students went, the police would be waiting for us. I had also escaped injury or death the first time around and was not ready to tempt fate again. I do not recollect if Alli went or stayed, but that period was a defining one in the annals of students’ revolution in Nigeria. The Student Union warrior-leaders of that time and their lawyers are mostly the leaders of today’s struggle for democracy. We have just lost Gani to the fight, but Aluta Continua Victoria Ascerta! His spirit lives on!

The Count

Moses Oisakede: Eleven Years After

Moses Oisakede: Eleven Years After,  By Olamide Olatunji(August 30, 2010)
On September 1st 1999, while travelling to the University of Agriculture, Markurdi to plead the case of some expelled union activists, Moses Oisakede lost his life in a car accident on the Ankpa-Markurdi Road.
Moses was travelling in the official car of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS). In the car on that fateful day with Moses (who was the NANS President) was Livingstone Akwanga (who also died in the accident), Kennedy Tabuko, Mike Igaga, Steve Ekwerare, Oluwole Babalola, Vincent Agada and Olamide Olatunji (myself). The car ran into a ditch and somersaulted, while attempting to avoid a pot hole. Moses died on the spot, while Livingstone died in my arms on the way to the hospital, after about 40 minutes, trying to get a vehicle to convey him to the hospital.
Moses Oisakede, who at his death was a 28 years old Bio-Chemistry student of the Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, had one philosophy of life, which was that “the value of a life is in its contribution to humanity” Between the time of his election at the UI convention in December 1998 to his death in September 1999, he was an exemplary leader of the NANS. Moses who assumed office at a time when the leadership of NANS was being lobbied and hijacked by big money bags and the government, strove to lead without any blemish. Unlike what obtains presently where NANS has been turned into a platform for personal aggrandisement, doling out awards to one discredited politicians or another, jumping from one government office to another while student interests are being attacked, Moses pursued the interests of students without allowing any distractions. He was always on the road, visiting schools, meeting with various schools management, always agitating for a better welfare conditions for Nigerian students and it is not only befitting but also ironic that he should lose his life on one of the numerous trips he undertook in the course of his stewardship.
Eleven years after Moses’ death, it is very disheartening and saddening to discover that the issues which led to the untimely demise of Moses Oisakede and Livingstone Akwange are still prevalent within the education sector and the nation as a whole. These issues are; arbitrary expulsion and dismissal of student union activists, bad and deplorable conditions of our roads, poor state of facilities on our campuses and poor state of health facilities.
One of the common features of the military era was the expulsion and dismissal of student activists without due process of rule of law. It was explained then as a reflection of the national polity, since military men were ruling Nigeria, the Vice-Chancellors too were behaving like military men. But interestingly, eleven years after the departure of military men, the Vice-Chancellors are still behaving like military men. Scores of the student activists are presently expelled or dismissed from various institutions of higher learning across the country. Expulsion and dismissal of student activists rises as a result of intolerance on the part of the vice-chancellors or school managements to dissenting views. In a country where the minimum wage is between N5, 700 – N7, 500, you find a federal institution of learning charging up to N40, 000 as school fees (please how do you reconcile that), inevitably some people are not given access to education and a certificate. Meanwhile to get a decent job, you most likely need a certificate from an institution of higher learning. I am hard pressed to remember when last I read of a student activist expelled from Oxford, Harvard, Cambridge or any of the numerous universities that litter Europe (where the children of our ministers of education and all other political office holders attend) yet on daily/weekly basis student activists are either expelled or suspended in Nigeria.
Moses would certainly not believe that eleven years after his demise, the state of Nigerian roads are worse than they were when he was plunged into a ditch while attempting to avoid a pothole. From Sokoto to Ibadan, Maiduguri to Lagos, Enugu to Aba, all over the nation, the roads are in terrible and horrible conditions. Tens of thousands of Nigerians lose their lives and properties yearly due to the deplorable conditions of the roads, while trillions of naira are pocketed by the contractors and their collaborators in government. In every budget, the works ministry is allocated large sums of money and at the end of the year the minister in charge can not point to how many kilometres of road was built or repaired.
Eleven years ago, when we set out from Ekpoma, the aim was to get to Markurdi to attend the public sitting of the presidential visitation panel set up by then President Obasanjo to look into the various unrest in the universities and redress all cases of victimisation and injustice perpetuated by the vice-chancellors of the military era. Eleven student activists were earlier expelled from the university and the students’ union was banned by the vice-chancellor, so the affected students did not have any mouth piece to voice their grievances to the visitation panel. It was therefore very expedient and imperative that NANS should be at the panel to present their case. Ironically, the same Obasanjo was a president for 8 years that witnessed attacks on student activists and acute under funding of education.
However, at this point, there arises a dilemma. The affected students had at a senate meeting of NANS specifically requested that Moses be physically present at the panel. The reason was that the vice-chancellor, Prof. Gyang had succeeded in bribing previous NANS executive officers who had tried to intervene in the matter. The expelled students trusted and believed that Moses would not betray them. The NANS senate thereby resolved and mandated that Moses should be physically present to make the case of the expelled students at the panel. Unfortunately, the timing of the panel coincided with the examination period at the Ambrose Alli University.  Moses had to decide on whether to go against the senate resolution and not go to the panel sitting or put his academics on the line and head to Makurdi. The panel sitting was fixed for a Wednesday; he had exams on Tuesday and Thursday. Finally, Moses arrived at a decision. “Sistar” (he calls me), “I will go to Makurdi”, I was quick to ask how he planned to do it without missing his exams and he replied, “If I miss the exams, I can still re-write it another time, but if I miss Makurdi, those boys might never have the chance to write an exams let alone fail it”. How philosophical that statement turned out to be; Moses missed his exams and he also missed Makurdi, but at least, as a consolation for his soul, I am happy to tell him that “those boys” did have a chance to write exams, though he had to sacrifice his own chance.
Sacrifice is what leadership is about, but not so for Nigerian leaders. They do not and can not sacrifice anything for their followers. That is why the senate president earns N88 million per month, while minimum wage is N7,500 per month. Nigerian leaders can not sacrifice, that is why some weeks back, the federal executive council, voted about 23 billion naira for the purchase of three aircrafts to add to the presidential fleet, when the entire nation is in darkness and factories are running on generators. Recently, the British Prime Minister travelled to attend a conference via rail, according to him “the recent economic crisis has made my government cut down on expenses”. Can you imagine President Goodluck travelling to Cameroon by rail, (please spit it out).
  
I remember very vividly the song which was composed and rendered with solemnity by the students of Ambrose Alli University at the burial of Moses Oisakede.
Moses don die o!
Alele ku ele
If dem no expel us, Moses no go die
If dem give us good roads, Moses no go die
If dem build hospitals, Livingstone no go die
Na now u go know say government people bad
Simple condolence dem no fit to send
Moses don die o!
Alele ku ele.
It is a pity that eleven years ago, we are still at where we were, perambulating!
Olamide Olatunji
Former NANS Activists and Currently the Director of Administration of a Private School in Lagos.

Poly teachers begin indefinite strike

THE Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics, ASUP, has commenced an indefinite strike, following failure of the federal and state governments to implement agreements on issues affecting polytechnic education in the country.

The indefinite strike declared, Sunday, by the union, followed end of a seven-day warning strike which ended weekend.

Some of the issues in contention are non-migration of members at the lower cadres on CONTISS 15 salary scale; release of white paper on the visitation panel to federal polytechnics; non-commencement of needs assessment of Nigerian polytechnics; worrisome state of state-owned polytechnics/monotechnics; and continued appointment of unqualified persons as rectors by some state governments.

Others include failure of most state governments to implement approved salary packages (CONPCASS) for polytechnics and 65 years retirement age; continued recognition of the NBTE as a regulatory body for Nigerian polytechnics against the creation of a national polytechnics commission; and the snail speed associated with the amendment of the Federal Polytechnics Act, amongst others.

National President of ASUP, Mr Chibuzor Asomugha, told Vanguard, Sunday, that the indefinite strike had become inevitable because the meeting the union had with Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, on the issues yielded no positive results.

He said the strike would be called off only when governments addressed all issues raised by the union, and urged al

RE-DELUSION: DINO MELAYE AND THE NEW ACTIVISM

RE-DELUSION: DINO MELAYE AND THE NEW ACTIVISM BY TIJANI KABIRU MOHAMMED (FORMER NANS PRESIDENT 1999/2000)
My attention has been drawn to an accusation pointed by one Abdul Mahmud former NANS President 1989 accusing me as the mastered minder and the first person that sold NANS to the Federal Government.
Ordinarily, the accusation would have been discountenanced by my humble self but for the fact that Abdul Mahmud as a chief accuser.
I therefore, consider it pertinent to make this response in other to put things in their right perspective.
I am Tijani Kabiru Mohammed NANS Vice President National Affairs 1998 and NANS President 1999/2000 after the demise of the late Comrade Moses Oisakede of the blessed memory (May His Soul Rest In Perfect Peace) on 1st September, 1999 while on the struggle to Federal University Agriculture Makurdi to reinstate 105 Students expelled from the institution and died in an auto crash along Makurdi-Adoka Road.
I want to concur with your quotation in your opening write-up by Amilcar Cabral but you equally jettison that quotation by doing what he preached against in his quotation telling lies and distorting history to your pay master.
I will not join issues with your eulogies of historical maturation and it dialects on all past veterans of our noble organization called NANS starting from her founding fathers to where you stopped on yourself centred and historical ideology.
In order to put the record straight for posterity purpose that, I Tijani Kabiru Mohammed never started or began the decadence era of the state capture of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) for the record, I wish to categorically state when NANS became a start organ with facts and figures from your ideological plank which is the leftist to the right wing.

It is on record book that, May be you must have forgotten that during the Olusegun Mayegun regime he was invited to Jos. Plateau state by Military Junta where he had an hand shake and dinner with the then Number 2 man of Nigeria, Rear Admiral Aihkomu a military jinta that the ideological base of the leftist you claimed to, must have come from , embraced and wine the Junta, you never saw anything wrong with that even at the peak of the ANTI-SAP riot.
You may recalled that after Olusegun Mayegun regime was Nasiru Kura from the Bayero University Kano, took over as the NANS President, what has been the productive activism of that regime even when Steve Aluko AKA Maradona the Student Union Government President of the greatest Ahmadu Bello University Zaria was expelled and rusticated till date has not been recalled back.
If I may ask; were you not a living witness to the leadership of Comrade Denis Etim Inyang of Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO) who took over by popular votes from Nasiru Kura against the will of your ideological plank at the Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-ife, Osun State, that gave back the Students activist to the rightful owner which your leftist never agreed to that, the same Denis Etim Inyang in conjunction with the National Council for Women Society(NCWS) organized the SAVE EDUCATION rally that was facilitated by your own leftist brother Adoyi Mathew Omale the then Student Union Government President of the greatest Ahmadu Bello University Zaria end up in a Villa during General Sani Abacha regime which earned NANS with a plot of land from Hajiya Jumai Aduda and subsequently visit General Sani Abacha and nothing was wrong with that.
You may also recalled that Denis Etim Inyang handed over power to Mohammed Baba Kazalla of the University of Maiduguri at a convention which ended up in Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria in 1995 and Mohammed Baba Kazalla came up with a programme at the first Senate Meeting of NANS in that regime at the epicentre of the so called ideological leftist in the Polytechnic Ibadan endorsed the (ARAFAT) that sail through and it was implemented that gave room for the entire Nigerian Students to participate in National Youth Summit that brought the leadership of NANS to the military junta at the International Conference Centre Abuja in 1995 and that was not illegal or sale of NANS.
After Mohammed Baba Kazalla regime the power of NANS Secretariat moved to the South-West (NANS Zone D) with the headquarter at the University of Ibadan under the leadership of Oludare Ogunlana AKA Above Jordan as the President at the Ekpoma convention 1996, at this particular movement your ideological tendencies did not see NANS as an organ of government even when you people facilitated NANS leadership meeting with Buba Marwa the then Governor of Lagos State that earned NANS a vehicle, what about NANS relationship with Elder Oyelase the then Minister of Special duties, what was the relationship of NANS with Alh. Arisekola Alao the last man standing during the era of late General Sani Abacha regime that was a struggle and I guess nothing was wrong with that as you may presume my senior comrade.
Vividly after the Oludare Ogunlana AKA Above Jordan as the President, he handed over power to Bashir Abdullahi of Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, at the convention that took place in College of Education Katsina-Ala,,Benue State in 1997 and the leadership of NANS was invited to Villa by Major Hamza Almustapha to watch the video clip of General Oladipo Diya coup against late General Sani Abacha that cost General Olusegun Obasanjo, Shehu Sani, Shehu Yar’dua etc to detention and that particular drama at the Presidential Villa was not Government/NANS relationship? Then come to my own tenure we ran together with Comrade Moses Oisakede of blessed memory that stood and died for Nigerian Students. How many of you sir, from the ideological leftist had laid his life for other to live at the echelon of service as NANS President, please mention one, our election was conducted in December, 1998 at the University of Ibadan and Moses Oisakede died in active service nine months after the assumption of office as NANS President, let me quickly remind you even at death we give respect and honour to whom it is due, but with utmost respect sir, you mentioned all the big names in NANS whom I have immense respect for and cannot accord respect for my late Moses Oisakede who died in active service, you forgot his names but you at least remember mine with a mistake please take note sir, that my names are Tijani Kabiru Mohammed and not Kabiru Mohammed as you claimed or ought to have known NANS historical antic.
I have never sold out NANS nor do I have any ambition to do it, the visit we paid to former President Olusegun Obasanjo on the 16th September, 1999 was an already scheduled appointment to meet with our civilian democratically elected leader at the Aso Rock by the late Moses Oisakede the NANS President then which I only fulfilled the scripture as ordained by the Almighty God.
Comrade Moses Oisakede died on the 1st September, 1999 and our visit was scheduled before his demise as such how can you say that I sold out NANS to the Government or are you against the democratically elected Government.
I wouldn’t have gone further but for the generation yet unborn, myself, Victor Arokoyo and other comrades were expelled from Ahmadu Bello Universitu Zaria due to our principle stand against the military junta of Mamman Kontangora as the sole Administrator in 1997, we were expelled, tortured and incarcerated in Zaria for days without feedings in 1997, please where were you then as the head of legal service of the civil liberties organization from 1994/1999? what record of my incarceration do you have? I challenged you for this and if in doubt please ask Steve Aluko AKA Maradona about my humble self, Aminu Mahmud, Salihu Lukman, Danfulani John, Shogo Owoye, Abdulrahman Black (Rest In Peace).
If your memory will not fail you, that all the heads of the tertiary institution in Nigeria were all Government agent between 1998-1999 until we had civilian Government in1999, it is also on record that no NANS leadership have carried out struggles than the leadership of Moses Oisakede and Tijani Kabiru Mohammed in 1998-1999.
To those who know history knows that the then leadership of Moses Oisakede and Tijani Kabiru Mohammed was engaged in the struggles of the reinstatement of political expelled and rusticated Nigerian Students leaders across the country, and the institution includes Obafemi Awolowo University Ife, University Of Uyo, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, University of Jos, Usman Danfodio University Sokoto, Yaba Tech, Ambrose Ali University Ekpoma, LASU,Uniport, Uniben,Adeyemi College of Education Owo, Ondo State, Federal polytechnic Bauchi, Abubakar tafawa Balewa University Bauchi, Bayero University Kano, FCE Bichi, Federal University of Agriculture Makurdi, PTI Warri, College of Education Okene, etc, as at then even your Vice chancellor Professor Wole Omole of Obafemi Awolowo Ife was removed as a result of our struggle led by Comrade Moses Oisakede with the support of likes of oluwole Babalola AKA Obesere, Adeolu Soetan, Damola Yahaya, etc, are all living witness to our genuine struggle for the interest of Nigerian Students.

DINO MELYE
I would have put a full stop from the last paragraph but history will not forgive me if I refuse to brief the world about the man of the people called Dino Melaye.
I met Dino Melaye in 1993 when I was newly admitted into the greatest Ahmadu Bello University Zaria and he has been a man of his own who had Political and social followers, in 1999 when I became the President of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), then the likes of Comrade Saleh Alhassan Kubah. Kabiru Mohammed,Victor Arokoyo, Ajufo.I Ajufo and host in Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, brought up a proposals for partnership with Dino’s group which was later sealed and signed by the two groups with the sole aimed of avoiding the divide and rule of the school management, we worked as an associates and carried out joint action in defence of the Nigerian Students in Ahmadu Bello University Zaria and beyond, I don’t know where you had it on record that Dino Melaye was my Personal Assistant, I am sorry you got it wrong sir, Dino was an authority and epitome of struggle in his own way. As such claims were not true and you may wish to go back to the drawing board in order to get things right.
Finally sir, you should ask yourself acclaimed ideological camp how did the Government of Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida financed the building of social Centres in Nigeria campuses and where handed over to students Union Government of all tertiary institutions in Nigeria, where were you also when the Government of the sani abacha through PTF distributed 1414 buses to students union governments across the country? Remember all these happened during the military era all before my regime in 1999/2000. I want to ask you sir are you for or against corruption? As for me I know Dino Melaye is against corruption and that’s the reason why he formed the ANTI-CORRUPTION NETWORK with the headquarter in Abuja, please sir, I advised you wake up as report reaching us that you are one of the people that are supporting corrupt leaders in this country called Nigeria. For the last time never you mentioned my names in yourself styled write ups again. God bless Nigeria.
Tijani Kabiru Mohammed
Former NANS President 1999/2000

RE-DELUSION: DINO MELAYE AND THE NEW ACTIVISM

RE-DELUSION: DINO MELAYE AND THE NEW ACTIVISM BY TIJANI KABIRU MOHAMMED (FORMER NANS PRESIDENT 1999/2000)
My attention has been drawn to an accusation pointed by one Abdul Mahmud former NANS President 1989 accusing me as the mastered minder and the first person that sold NANS to the Federal Government.
Ordinarily, the accusation would have been discountenanced by my humble self but for the fact that Abdul Mahmud as a chief accuser.
I therefore, consider it pertinent to make this response in other to put things in their right perspective.
I am Tijani Kabiru Mohammed NANS Vice President National Affairs 1998 and NANS President 1999/2000 after the demise of the late Comrade Moses Oisakede of the blessed memory (May His Soul Rest In Perfect Peace) on 1st September, 1999 while on the struggle to Federal University Agriculture Makurdi to reinstate 105 Students expelled from the institution and died in an auto crash along Makurdi-Adoka Road.
I want to concur with your quotation in your opening write-up by Amilcar Cabral but you equally jettison that quotation by doing what he preached against in his quotation telling lies and distorting history to your pay master.
I will not join issues with your eulogies of historical maturation and it dialects on all past veterans of our noble organization called NANS starting from her founding fathers to where you stopped on yourself centred and historical ideology.
In order to put the record straight for posterity purpose that, I Tijani Kabiru Mohammed never started or began the decadence era of the state capture of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) for the record, I wish to categorically state when NANS became a start organ with facts and figures from your ideological plank which is the leftist to the right wing.

It is on record book that, May be you must have forgotten that during the Olusegun Mayegun regime he was invited to Jos. Plateau state by Military Junta where he had an hand shake and dinner with the then Number 2 man of Nigeria, Rear Admiral Aihkomu a military jinta that the ideological base of the leftist you claimed to, must have come from , embraced and wine the Junta, you never saw anything wrong with that even at the peak of the ANTI-SAP riot.
You may recalled that after Olusegun Mayegun regime was Nasiru Kura from the Bayero University Kano, took over as the NANS President, what has been the productive activism of that regime even when Steve Aluko AKA Maradona the Student Union Government President of the greatest Ahmadu Bello University Zaria was expelled and rusticated till date has not been recalled back.
If I may ask; were you not a living witness to the leadership of Comrade Denis Etim Inyang of Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO) who took over by popular votes from Nasiru Kura against the will of your ideological plank at the Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-ife, Osun State, that gave back the Students activist to the rightful owner which your leftist never agreed to that, the same Denis Etim Inyang in conjunction with the National Council for Women Society(NCWS) organized the SAVE EDUCATION rally that was facilitated by your own leftist brother Adoyi Mathew Omale the then Student Union Government President of the greatest Ahmadu Bello University Zaria end up in a Villa during General Sani Abacha regime which earned NANS with a plot of land from Hajiya Jumai Aduda and subsequently visit General Sani Abacha and nothing was wrong with that.
You may also recalled that Denis Etim Inyang handed over power to Mohammed Baba Kazalla of the University of Maiduguri at a convention which ended up in Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria in 1995 and Mohammed Baba Kazalla came up with a programme at the first Senate Meeting of NANS in that regime at the epicentre of the so called ideological leftist in the Polytechnic Ibadan endorsed the (ARAFAT) that sail through and it was implemented that gave room for the entire Nigerian Students to participate in National Youth Summit that brought the leadership of NANS to the military junta at the International Conference Centre Abuja in 1995 and that was not illegal or sale of NANS.
After Mohammed Baba Kazalla regime the power of NANS Secretariat moved to the South-West (NANS Zone D) with the headquarter at the University of Ibadan under the leadership of Oludare Ogunlana AKA Above Jordan as the President at the Ekpoma convention 1996, at this particular movement your ideological tendencies did not see NANS as an organ of government even when you people facilitated NANS leadership meeting with Buba Marwa the then Governor of Lagos State that earned NANS a vehicle, what about NANS relationship with Elder Oyelase the then Minister of Special duties, what was the relationship of NANS with Alh. Arisekola Alao the last man standing during the era of late General Sani Abacha regime that was a struggle and I guess nothing was wrong with that as you may presume my senior comrade.
Vividly after the Oludare Ogunlana AKA Above Jordan as the President, he handed over power to Bashir Abdullahi of Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, at the convention that took place in College of Education Katsina-Ala,,Benue State in 1997 and the leadership of NANS was invited to Villa by Major Hamza Almustapha to watch the video clip of General Oladipo Diya coup against late General Sani Abacha that cost General Olusegun Obasanjo, Shehu Sani, Shehu Yar’dua etc to detention and that particular drama at the Presidential Villa was not Government/NANS relationship? Then come to my own tenure we ran together with Comrade Moses Oisakede of blessed memory that stood and died for Nigerian Students. How many of you sir, from the ideological leftist had laid his life for other to live at the echelon of service as NANS President, please mention one, our election was conducted in December, 1998 at the University of Ibadan and Moses Oisakede died in active service nine months after the assumption of office as NANS President, let me quickly remind you even at death we give respect and honour to whom it is due, but with utmost respect sir, you mentioned all the big names in NANS whom I have immense respect for and cannot accord respect for my late Moses Oisakede who died in active service, you forgot his names but you at least remember mine with a mistake please take note sir, that my names are Tijani Kabiru Mohammed and not Kabiru Mohammed as you claimed or ought to have known NANS historical antic.
I have never sold out NANS nor do I have any ambition to do it, the visit we paid to former President Olusegun Obasanjo on the 16th September, 1999 was an already scheduled appointment to meet with our civilian democratically elected leader at the Aso Rock by the late Moses Oisakede the NANS President then which I only fulfilled the scripture as ordained by the Almighty God.
Comrade Moses Oisakede died on the 1st September, 1999 and our visit was scheduled before his demise as such how can you say that I sold out NANS to the Government or are you against the democratically elected Government.
I wouldn’t have gone further but for the generation yet unborn, myself, Victor Arokoyo and other comrades were expelled from Ahmadu Bello Universitu Zaria due to our principle stand against the military junta of Mamman Kontangora as the sole Administrator in 1997, we were expelled, tortured and incarcerated in Zaria for days without feedings in 1997, please where were you then as the head of legal service of the civil liberties organization from 1994/1999? what record of my incarceration do you have? I challenged you for this and if in doubt please ask Steve Aluko AKA Maradona about my humble self, Aminu Mahmud, Salihu Lukman, Danfulani John, Shogo Owoye, Abdulrahman Black (Rest In Peace).
If your memory will not fail you, that all the heads of the tertiary institution in Nigeria were all Government agent between 1998-1999 until we had civilian Government in1999, it is also on record that no NANS leadership have carried out struggles than the leadership of Moses Oisakede and Tijani Kabiru Mohammed in 1998-1999.
To those who know history knows that the then leadership of Moses Oisakede and Tijani Kabiru Mohammed was engaged in the struggles of the reinstatement of political expelled and rusticated Nigerian Students leaders across the country, and the institution includes Obafemi Awolowo University Ife, University Of Uyo, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, University of Jos, Usman Danfodio University Sokoto, Yaba Tech, Ambrose Ali University Ekpoma, LASU,Uniport, Uniben,Adeyemi College of Education Owo, Ondo State, Federal polytechnic Bauchi, Abubakar tafawa Balewa University Bauchi, Bayero University Kano, FCE Bichi, Federal University of Agriculture Makurdi, PTI Warri, College of Education Okene, etc, as at then even your Vice chancellor Professor Wole Omole of Obafemi Awolowo Ife was removed as a result of our struggle led by Comrade Moses Oisakede with the support of likes of oluwole Babalola AKA Obesere, Adeolu Soetan, Damola Yahaya, etc, are all living witness to our genuine struggle for the interest of Nigerian Students.

DINO MELYE
I would have put a full stop from the last paragraph but history will not forgive me if I refuse to brief the world about the man of the people called Dino Melaye.
I met Dino Melaye in 1993 when I was newly admitted into the greatest Ahmadu Bello University Zaria and he has been a man of his own who had Political and social followers, in 1999 when I became the President of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), then the likes of Comrade Saleh Alhassan Kubah. Kabiru Mohammed,Victor Arokoyo, Ajufo.I Ajufo and host in Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, brought up a proposals for partnership with Dino’s group which was later sealed and signed by the two groups with the sole aimed of avoiding the divide and rule of the school management, we worked as an associates and carried out joint action in defence of the Nigerian Students in Ahmadu Bello University Zaria and beyond, I don’t know where you had it on record that Dino Melaye was my Personal Assistant, I am sorry you got it wrong sir, Dino was an authority and epitome of struggle in his own way. As such claims were not true and you may wish to go back to the drawing board in order to get things right.
Finally sir, you should ask yourself acclaimed ideological camp how did the Government of Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida financed the building of social Centres in Nigeria campuses and where handed over to students Union Government of all tertiary institutions in Nigeria, where were you also when the Government of the sani abacha through PTF distributed 1414 buses to students union governments across the country? Remember all these happened during the military era all before my regime in 1999/2000. I want to ask you sir are you for or against corruption? As for me I know Dino Melaye is against corruption and that’s the reason why he formed the ANTI-CORRUPTION NETWORK with the headquarter in Abuja, please sir, I advised you wake up as report reaching us that you are one of the people that are supporting corrupt leaders in this country called Nigeria. For the last time never you mentioned my names in yourself styled write ups again. God bless Nigeria.
Tijani Kabiru Mohammed
Former NANS President 1999/2000

Delusion: Dino Melaye and the new activism

Delusion: Dino Melaye and the new activism Writing by Abdul Mahmud

In his acclaimed seminal, ‘’Tell no lies, claim no easy victories’’, Amilcar Cabral warned revolutionaries­ of the dangers of telling lies and claiming easy victories, even before the final battles are won.

Cabral, a distinguished African scholar and anti-colonial revolutionary leader whose credentials were forged in the furnaces of the struggles of our people, recognised the importance of truth to every struggle and the responsibilitie­s the struggle imposes on activists as they fight for ideas, for a better life and for the future.

Cabral’s warning issued at a time revolutionaries­ on the continent were engaged in the anti-colonial struggles holds true today for activists who fight neo imperialists and those prejudicial customs and negative aspects of beliefs and traditions that hinder progress.

Truth, therefore, is when activists look at their own faces in the mirror the same way they demand that society looks at itself. Hypocrisy has no place in activism as it erodes its integrity and quickens the collapse of the activist movement.

Activism in our part has always been an ideological one. The activist movement of the mid 1980’s-to-late 1990’s was peopled by men and women on the left and right of our alternative politics. Then, the activist movement held itself out as a broad church. Though there were divisions within the movement, activists related to each other with a certain sense of respect. This sense of respect more than anything else propelled the movement.

On the ideological right, there were the likes of Olisa Agbakoba, Tunji Abayomi, Mike Ozekhome, Beko Kuti, Glory Kilanko, Tayo Oyetibo, Fred Agbaje, Ken Saro-Wiwa, Osa Director, Nsirimovu Anyakwee, Abdul Oroh, Shehu Sani, Patrick Utomi, Chidi Odinkalu, Odia Ofeimun, Felix Morka, Eka Williams, Clement Nwankwo, Ayo Obe, Nnimmo Bassey, Festus Keyamo and a host of others.

The ideological left paraded Alao Aka-Bashorun, Gani Fawehinmi, Festus Iyayi, Osagie Obayuwana, Ayesha Imam, Eskor Toyo, Edwin Madunagu, Bene Madunagu, Niyi Fasanmi, Toye Olorode, Dipo Fashina, Idowu Awopetu, Abubakar Momoh, Segun Osoba and the generation of leftist-activis­ts who graduated from the students politics of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS): Chris Mammah, Chris Abashi, Festus Okoye, Lanre Arogundade, Emma Ezeazu, Salihu Lukman, Bamidele Opeyemi, Abdul Mahmud, Segun Mayegun, Nasir Kura, Comfort Idika, Femi Falana, Labaran Maku, Chido Onumah, Seni Ajayi, Yomi Gidado, Otive Igbuzor, Abdul Hussein, Luke Aghanenu, Odion Akhaine, Ogaga Ifowodo, Bamidele Aturu, Chima Ubani, John Odah, Chom Bagu, Lanre Ehonwa, Chiemeke Onyeisi, Uche Onyeagucha, Jaye Gaskia, Innocent Chukwuma, Omano Edigheji, Omoyele Sowore, Kayode Ogundamisi, Gbenga Olawepo, Olaitan Oyerinde, Gbenga Komolafe, Adeola Soetan, Fola Odidi, Chijioke Uwasomba, Lade Adunbi, Juliet Southey-Cole, Biodun Aremu, Biodun Ogunade, Ene Obi, Sam Amadi, Teejay Yusuf, Auwal Rafsanjani and many others too numerous to name here.

The relationship between both tendencies was often tense inside popular organisations like the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Gani Fawehinmi Solidarity Association (GFSA), Democratic Alternative (DA) and the Campaign for Democracy (CD), but the desire to end military rule made the relationship cordial.

Though there were the likes of Clement Nwankwo, Tayo Oyetibo, Fred Agbaje, Tunji Abayomi, Pat Utomi, Festus Keyamo (he joined the movement during his National Youth Service Corps’ year at Gani Fawehinmi’s Chambers in 1994; and prior to that year, he was a reactionary student with no connection to progressive students politics at the Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma) and Odia Ofeimun who lacked the temperament and discipline to work inside popular organisations, one salutary aspect of their individual activism was their honesty of purpose.

Today, the new faces of public activism are Dino Melaye, Femi Fani-Kayode, Nasir El-Rufai and the tribe of public intellectuals and boy-scout activists that have taken the social media as the primary site of political action.

There is a point to be made here: some of these older activists of today bucked at the idea of joining hands with their contemporaries who fought the military on our streets. Perhaps, it is convenient today to throw stones at the effeminate civil governments than risk the beatings, expulsions, rustications, arrests and imprisonments without trials many activists suffered at the hands of soldiers.

Yesterday, activism was about courage, valour and integrity. Today it is about name and publicity-seeki­ng. El-rufai and Fani-Kayode, in particular, don’t express shame when reminded of their shameful connection to that obsequious party, the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, peopled by some of the most despicable elements we can find in right-wing parties anywhere, that has brought us to where we are in today.

These new activists are former public office holders, beneficiaries of the product of the struggles they shied away from during the years of military dictatorship, with no connection to struggles of any kind, nor do they have any history which connects them to progressive politics before they chanced on public governance, that we can look at to analyse the truth of their new found public purposes. When critics accuse them of taking to activism as the shortest route of return to public recognition, or as a means to get on the right side of power, they dismiss their critics with the wave of the hand. Such criticisms cannot be dismissed because they provide the starting points for a critical understanding of their world views and how they connect with the masses of our people for whom they profess their new life politics.

Though, there are no assurances that activists of yesterday cannot today engage in role reversals that shame whatever they once stood for as we have experienced with some left activists who are today connected to power. History provides us basis for measuring then and now, here and there, for defining the parameters for engaging with them. Isn’t it important we have understanding of their ‘’Road-to-Damas­cus’’ moments? Isn’t it imperative we know how Saul became Paul? How far the down aisle of time can they walk as brides and grooms of our new life politics? That the new faces of public activism have no connection to any mass or popular organisations makes their public activism a project of publicity and suspicion.

Of the named individuals, only Dino Melaye boast of a ‘’connection’’ to struggles of any kind. Even that is dubious. My good friend, Ayobami Oyalowo, writing under the caption, ‘’Dino Melaye They Do Not Know’’, has this to say: “He struggled until he got admitted into Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria and the activist in Dino came to the fore. Throughout his stay as a student of ABU, he was a thorn in the flesh of the authorities. Matters came to a head when he sued the school authority. He was arrested by Abacha government and was locked in Yola Prisons for 11 months without any formal charges. He was in cell 4 when he was next door neighbour to Olusegun Obasanjo who was in cell 5. He was mercilessly tortured by the infamous Sergeant Rogers and hung to dry’’.

How audacious for any biographer to put out such untruth, pass off fiction as truth! Assuming there are truths to Ayobami Oyalowo’s claim, there are questions he has to provide answers. What year was Dino Melaye arrested and detained? Was his detention documented? We presume that Dino Melaye’s arrest and detention took place in March 1998, shortly after Daniel Kanu’s two million Youths Earnestly Ask for Abacha’s march. Ayobami Oyalowo’s spurious claim is exposed by the Annual Human Rights Reports of the Civil Liberties Organisation and Amnesty International. The reports of both organisations make no reference to Dino Melaye.

Dino Melaye’s claim to student activism began in late 1998 when he was elected President of the Geography Students Association of the Ahmadu Bello University. His presidency was cut shut when he was sacked for gross misconduct. He later emerged as the Personal Assistant of the Vice President of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Kabir Mohammed, who became President following the death of the incumbent President in 1999.

Another lie is the claim that Dino Melaye was a ‘’thorn in the flesh of the authorities’’. How could Dino Melaye who had no connection to the radical student union leadership of that institution led by Comrades Omale and Victor Arokoyo become thorn in the flesh of the authorities? This writer, as a former President of the National Association of Nigerian Students (1990/1991) and former Staff Attorney and Head of Legal Services of the Civil Liberties Organisation (1994 to 1999), should have become aware of the predicaments of Dino Melaye, at least in the course of his work as a human rights lawyer who defended students activists across the length and breadth of our country. One point that must be made is that the President, Kabir Mohammed, whom Dino Melaye served as Personal Assistant began the decadent era of state capture that National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has not recovered from today.

Concluding, every responsible activist must have the courage of his responsibilitie­s. ‘’Hide nothing, tell no lies. Expose lies whenever they are told. Mask no difficulties, mistakes, failures. Claim no easy victories’’, Amilcar Cabral enjoined. The dangers of telling lies are starker when those who wield power mask their own penchant for telling lies by turning the uncovering of lies discredited activists tell into an art, some official obsession.

The wielders of power are unsparing once they detect the chinks in the armours of activists. An activist who gets entangled in the web of lies he or she spins endangers the movement and brings it to disrepute. Unfortunately, we have a rotten system driven by individuals who have no time for the tittle-tattles of dubious activists.

READ: The Scoop Investigates: Dino Melaye’s ‘Assassination Attempt’

READ: Eromo Egbejule: The Delusions Of Dino And Other Stories

If this government shows no interest in the dirt and mucks of Melaye, why would it want to snuff life out of him as he falsely claimed this week? Dino Melaye gets away with his lies because we live in a different age; an age that makes heroes out of despicable villains. The strategy of getting noticed today and securing public appointments tomorrow is as old as the struggles they claim to fight. Melaye and his tribe of opportunist- activists travel on the well-worn, beaten path.

Follow this writer on Twitter: @Abdulmahmud1