FUOYE’s Students Death, Bisi Fayemi’s Post – Mortem Statement, – A Critical Anatomy…..by Adeola Soetan

FUOYE’s Students Death, Bisi Fayemi’s Post – Mortem Statement, – A Critical Anatomy.

The wife of Ekiti State governor, Mrs Bisi Fayemi has issued a near – truth statement to explain from her own side what transpired at Oye Ekiti, the students protest that led to the brutalisation of many and avoidable brutal murder of two students of the Federal University, Oye Ekiti.
The crisis also led to the vandalisation of many vehicles in her convoy and attacks on the police.

At least her statement has debunked the potpourri of cooked up stories of ambush, political undertone and assassination attempt on Bisi’s life earlier circulated by government’s overzealous Abobakus – sycophantic aides, unconscionable supporters and friends of government on her entourage.

In my earlier statement, I asked the governor’s wife, herself a former protester and social justice activist, that at what point did she get security report that FUOYE students were protesting because of lack of electricity on their campus and in the town for a long time?

Well, in her statement, Mrs Fayemi told the nation that she had the security report in another town where she had a stop over well before getting to Oye. And that another report later informed her that the protesting students had dispersed.

Now, the question is how did the students who had been waiting to protest in her presence for her intervention disperse? By divine intervention or were they told that she was no longer coming to the town? Or light had been restored to their school and the ancient town by the private business corporations handling power?

I think the first mistake Bisi Fayemi made was not to have interrogated thoroughly why the protesting students suddenly ‘dispersed’.

I do not think the protesting students dispersed but they were only on recess possibly having waited too long for her arrival to the ‘land of darkness’. They only put the protest in abeyance pending the time the ‘big fish’ would come to town and reconverge to continue their protest in her presence and in the presence of her media crew to further make their plight and the plight of the community widely known so as to receive attention.

What leaders fail to know is that people didn’t vote for these profit motivated private corporations that government has virtually handed Nigerian lives with its privatization policy, so government whose basic constitutional right is welfare and security of the citizens cannot abdicate their responsibilities. Government we know, corporations we don’t, because nobody voted for them, hence government must always be ready to carry the blame until the time Discos, Reggae, Fuji, Genco, MTN, Julius Berger, Kopek and other multi – national corporations become political parties in Nigeria and duly registered by INEC to canvass for votes and win elections. This was the reason FUOYE students took their protest to government for intervention.

It is a normal practice globally to seize advantage of auspicious occasions of visit of VIPs for aggrieved people to protest and push their case further for wider attention.

Take for instance, if the wife of South African president visits Nigeria today even for a private engagement, she should expect protest against her citizens’ xenophobia by conscious and aggrieved Nigerians including those Nigerians that were just ‘xenophobically deported’ by South African thugs tactically supported by their government.

In fact, Mrs Ramaphosa should expect protesters right from the airport, she may even be sent back home from the airport.
How the protest will go, peaceful, semi – peaceful or violent, close or open circuit will majorly be determined by her attitude and the response of the security forces on ground.

So, those who cannot see the relevance of FUOYE students protest to Bisi Fayemi’s visit to Oye Ekiti at the time the whole town has been in total darkness for long are only dumb or naive.

The security report before reaching Oye that students had dispersed was not totally correct, and she also didn’t interrogate it well. She didn’t make reasonable deductions on possibilities and probabilities of students resuming their legitimate protest anytime she arrived. Who would allow a ‘big fish’ to just come to the ‘land of total blackout’ and go back like that to her comfort zone of 24 hour power and water supply without letting her know their plight when there are issues at stake that she could intervene?

Good enough that Mrs Fayemi in her statement claimed that her convoy had a sort of triumphant entry to Oye Ekiti as she was joyfully welcomed by Okada riders to the town. This means that contrary to the ‘Breaking Lies’ immediately broadcast by her overzealous Abobakus, there was no ambush or hostility before she got to the venue of her empowerment programme. I like her for this plain truth, which means the social justice activism in her has never completely left her while in bourgeois politics where lies and propaganda are major tenets of governance.

From her public statement, it can be inferred that the crisis started when the re – converged protesting students suddenly appeared at the venue, a hall, and wanted to gain entry to see her. They were stopped by the armed policemen. This was the turning point that escalated the crisis. Some of their leaders should been allowed in to have a brief discussion to say their minds.

Were students armed with guns, cutlasses, bow and arrows when they ‘invaded’ the venue to see their state’s First Lady, ‘first mother’, ‘first auntie’ and their ‘first sister’ to seek her intervention for their plight for government attention? No, they couldn’t have because that was not their intention or else they would have been ‘shooting their guns and arrows’ (assuming they had) before they got to the venue.

Were they unruly? Most likely since the police didn’t allow them to enter one should expect a rowdy scene there leading to uncoordinated agitation except their president or any situational leader on ground was strong and credible enough to calm nerves. But this could only be achieved with well trained conflict management police officers at the venue. Unfortunately, Nigeria has this in short supply.

What Bisi Fayemi could have done timely which she failed to do was to have left her seat and address the ‘unruly students’ on their plight which was critical to their academic and welfare survival.

‘Great Nigerian Students, Great Gbogbo, Great Gbagba’ (as students like to address themselves nowadays).
‘I was once a student like you, during my years at Great Ife, we enjoyed 24 hours uninterrupted power and water supply, so, I know how terribly bad you are feeling with no light to read. This is definitely going to have adverse affect on your academic performance….., I am here to empower our mothers, and I assure you that I will personally take up this embarrassing issue with my husband, even though he is not directly in charge of electricity, but as a good caring father whose children are studying abroad under a very good conducive atmosphere, His Excellency knows the essence of provision of light not only to your campus but to the whole town. I assure you that he will intervene concretely’
‘You know that everything has been privatized in Nigeria now for maximum profit but minimum service, that is one of the evils of capitalism. My PA will have discussion with your union president now to fix a date next week to see the governor for update…. I will be going to other towns from here to give food and other empowerment materials to our mothers. Please always be orderly when protesting so that it won’t be misconstrued, thank you’ Shikena!
Perhaps, if she had engaged the protesters like this and like the British PM engaged in exchanges with a passer – by who alleged him of playing game with Brexit and citizens’ lives, FUOYE disaster could have been averted.

The reason one can adduce from her public statement why she didn’t deem it fit to address the protesting students was because they were unruly (her claim that the students were armed and possibly inflirated by thugs is anachronistically subjective)

Good enough that she also claimed that while on her trip to Oye and other places, she intervened in Ado Ekiti in the protest embarked upon by women who were cleaners engaged but owed by the previous government. She intervened, according to her, because the women were peaceful. By inference, she didn’t intervene or address the protesting students that invaded because they were unruly and not peaceful as the Ado – Ekiti women.

That was another costly mistake on her part. The two protests were not similar and should not be expected to be similar in texture, structure, urgency, opportunity, demands, temperament, pschology and geography.
The approach of intervention by her should have been different. In actual fact, there should have been a prior intervention by her in the students plight days ahead before her visit if she ever cared.

It was really a vital error to have snubbed the unruly students. That deadlock subsequently led to the free – for – all police – students combat that sadly caused the death of two students. Because at the point of not allowing them to enter the hall to lay their grievances before her and not addressing them outside the hall, Bisi Fayemi had ostensibly given the police no other option than to disperse the protesting students by all means necessary.
This, the overzealous trigger happy police did, and they did it fatally with impunity.
Students cannot always be wrong and government cannot always be right, vice varsa. Continuous engagement is key.
The opportunity cost of her snubbing the unruly students was the crisis that led to the irreplaceable loss of precious lives of those students. May their souls rest in peace.

This attitude fell short of her experience as a social justice activist who would have gained worthwhile global knowledge in simple conflict resolution but woefully failed to apply it when utmost necessary.

Please tell me who would not applaud Attahiru Jega’s calmness and engagement on how he handled Orubebe when the unruly Orubebe stormed the stage at INEC national collation centre with a possible plan to disrupt the election? Bisi should have adopted the Jega’s style of crisis management. Jega’s style is a sign of leadership strength not weakness when faced with a crisis situation like that.

I am this thoroughly analytical because having participated and organized protests for over forty years since my secondary school days, I have discovered that police response to peaceful protesters has not improved, in many cases it has degenerated because our leaders’ attitudes when faced with protest have also degenerated leading to avoidable loss of valuable lives and property. Meanwhile, protest has come to stay and cannot be decreed out because the neo – liberal social system itself is crisis ridden.
There is too much mass anger in the land, so, leaders do something concrete to mitigate.

Adeola Soetan, (Baba Sho) was former president of Great Ife. students’ union (89 /90).