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In my career as a student of Great Ife, I’ve gone past the stage of writing with fear or favour, I’ve gone past the stage of anonymity or pseudonymy. I can now say things as they truly are. 7 weeks ago , the University was closed down and since then, the cyberspace, as usual during holidays and strikes is riddled with several opinions. Some so infuriating that its been very hard supressing the urge to respond but my reasons for not responding are always genuine: How will I bandy words with a person who refers to the closure as a strike? Or a person who refers to the Great Ife Students’ Union as ‘OAU SUG’ Or someone who says ‘I’m not a member of the Students’ Union but I will talk’ How Dopey! Despite all these, the primary reason behind this post is my removal from the Great Ife Students’ Union Page on Facebook. I am not the only one affected, some other guys who the admin percieved as a threat to their despotic ambitions were also removed. I’ve identified the 2 major problems in the Union, the first one is our political sympathies, the 2nd problem is the desire to impeach Ibikunle and some other guys in the Central Executive Council. On the first problem, I don’t have any issue with the students who are card carrying members of the major political parties, they’re only exercising their rights, as long as it is not affecting the Non Partisan stance of the Union.Union leaders are not allowed to be in this category as a matter of responsibility, even if a leader is in this category, he/she must remain silent till their tenure is over. The ones I have issues with are those ones whose political affiliations has taken over their very existence, they politicise everythin. From the Union elections to the struggle, even the #BringBackOurGirls Campaign. They’re not better than the national political leaders who turned insecurity to something to use for political gains. These ones are desperate for money, they’re not ashamed to say or do anything. Some of them are respected ‘Unionists’ Some are even former Union leaders who still lurk around. I will advise them not to join their selfishness with the current #OAUSaysNo struggle, it is so very unfair. We all have our political sympathies, especially those of us who are from Osun state. Those of us who care about integrity have realised that politicans are not worth the trouble, We try our best to do what is best for our state and not lord our opinions on anyone. To the 2nd problem; before the elections, there were several attempts to frustrate many candidates, several libelous articles were written, it was a long road. Even on the election day, there were several attempts to distrupt the elections but Great Ife students showed their doggedness and resisted. Ibikunle won the election fair and square. If there is nothing else, what we should all have done is to support him as our leader, enemies or friends. Not for his sake but for the sake of our beloved Union. It is quite disheartening that some individuals tried severally to frustrate his tenure, they even attempted to beat him one day. Allegations were cooked up against him and other members of the CEC. Because of the lies against him then, when people accuse him nowadays, it becomes very hard to believe them. Ordinary students followed the bandwagon of these rabble rousers but some of us saw through the veil. Truly, Ibikunle commited many errors, he was misled by some of these guys at a point in the name of ‘congressional resolutions.’ But he who is without sin should be the first to cast the stone. Although these guys have also been useful in keeping the Union leaders on their toes, they’ve also been very useful in driving the aluta spirit into our sophomores but its their hypocrisy that I detest. My advise to fellow students: do not let anyone lead you to misbehave, not even the Union leaders. Your studentship is yours’ alone. Your life is also yours and yours alone. Don’t give it up for exuberance. Òkòòkan l’awáyé, in fact, òkòokan l’a wá s’Ífè. I’ll advise these self acclaimed ‘heroes’ to stop deceiving people. For some, their sole intention is to make matyrs out of themselves as a way of making up for their inadequacies. Some of us, like people like to say ‘have better things to do with our lives.’ The world is waiting for us. And on the bus gift from Senator Iyiola Omisore, I don’t know why people like shouting so much. It has been an uneccesary diversion and it has been well politicised. The VP of the Union even published a post dissociating herself from the receipt of the bus. Some of us made the decision to support our leaders in their decisions because we knew we had to win the struggle as a unit but with the actions of the VP, it seems we’ve lost already. The article sounded so unlike her, not like she’s been saintly but she’s too passionately pretentious to write such a direct post. It is quite obvious that the writer is not Olori herself. She cannot be reffering to the ‘leadership’ of the Union which she is part of and advising them to take steps to reopen the school. Any good student of stylistics who is familiar with the several articles that graced our notice boards last session will be able to speculate one or two people whose styles are similar to what she published. That is for another day though. For me, the receeipt of the bus is not a bad decision. In fact, it will further encourage autonomy for the Union. The University Management won’t be able to seize it, at least. The only issue I have with the receipt of the bus is the timing, it is ill timed. It should not have been collected just a few days to elections. Also, a part of me does not agree with the ‘patronising’ inscriptions on it ( to use Olori’s CPS’ words) It looks like it belongs to a state University, no insult intended though. Ibikunle is truly giving us an ‘alternative to the status quo’ as promised. We all saw that before voting so why the unecessary noise now? Moreover, when Omisore promised to intervene in the increment struggle, we waited patiently for his intervention. He wasn’t a ‘personal non grata’, now we’ve just remembered that he was declared a ‘persona non grata’ for reasons no one can state. Are we sane at all? Its either of 2 things, either those using that phrase are hypocrites or they just want to use the situation to score cheap political gains. Either way, the bus has been collected and the leadership of the Union have not declared their support for any candidate, let’s wait patiently and see IF they will go partisan then we will know what to do to them by resumption. Concerning the ‘comrades’ who said the CEC members should be impeached, it is a only figment of their imaginations. To be honest with you, that will cause more troubles than we can ever imagine in our wildest dreams. In al the actions of the Union leaders so far, there hasn’t been any constitutional breach, not even the receipt of the bus. Although there has been some miscalculations and lack of decisiveness, an example is the clash in the responsibilities of the CEC and the Action Committee. Finally, I will advise fellow students to be clear headed enough to see through the disguise and deceit. For now, no one is an hero. Not in this struggle! We have all tried, sacrificing our blood, sweat and tears. The Union leaders have also tried, sacrificing their time, energy and resources. Well, they’re doing what they signed up for anyway. The root of this issue is #OAUSaysNo but with all these shenanigans and politicking, even a progressive student will be tempted to agree with those who said OAU has said Yes. We have strayed and we are still straying. The earlier we call ourselves back, the better. Unity is key in victory. We need to make sure we emerge victorious in the struggle that led us home before we begin this campaign of calumny, even IF we are going to do it at all. Greatest Ife! Time to move forward and not follow the bandwagon. Don’t believe all you hear. We are all heroes in this struggle. Remember, There is never Uhuru! We can only make freedom out of whatever we righfully win. P.S. You can remove me from Great Ife Students Union page on Facebook but you cannot remove me from the cyberspace or from the Students’ Union. No lie can live forever. Ayodele Eagles Ibiyemi @Ayo_eagles