Friday 26 June 2015

ULSU - Fighting for student or self?

In the light of University of Lagos Students' Union recently released message to the students, mixed reactions have trailed this supposedly good tiding. The message reads thus:

"Have you been harassed by any Campus ShuttleShuttle operators before? Have they ordered you to get down from the bus because of "CHANGE" before? Do you want this to stop? If yes, put a call through to the union on 08165294779 or
07036319456 the next time you experience such from them. One of them was made a scape-goat today for assaulting one of our students on "change matters" to serve as deterrent to others. Kunle Adegunoye Charles ULSU PRO"

One would indeed be curious as to why ULSU took that bold step 'on behalf of the students' as it claimed. Why now? What was the motivation behind it all? We do not know for sure, but this is what we know.

Well, we know that the Union’s president, Abiodun Martins, was brutally attacked last week on his way back to school after he had reportedly visited his father at Iyana Ipaja alongside four of his cabinet members.

We also know that the incident which occasioned a full page account from ULSU was a one-sided story. Why? Because that account actually came from it's public relations officer who claimed privy to everything that occurred that fateful day, and that was the only account we relied on.

And finally, we also know that shortly after the attack, ULSU decided to crack down on bus drivers that plies the school route.

Do we take this to mean that ULSU had no previous knowledge of the constant harassment students have been facing in the hands of bus drivers? Or was the crackdown actually triggered by the attack on its president? The ratio decidendi may actually run so deep that it would be quite tasking to pinpoint its origin.

Telling us that "one of them (the drivers) was made a scape-goat today..." begs to question if this is totally to protect students' rights or an axe-grinding of some sort.

While it is glaring that the president's aides have been derelict in their primary calling to protect their principal, ULSU should be reminded that the powers vested on them by the students shall and cannot be used to settle personal vendetta.

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