NCB: Good evening Lev. It’s nice to have you here.
Lev: The pleasure is mine.
NCB: For the sake of generality, pls introduce yourself.
Lev: I’m by name Olugbade Majeed Abiola, popularly known as Majeed Lèv. From Faculty of Education, Arts and Social Science Education (Education and English). I’m in Part 3, a member of Students’ Representative Council (SRC) and OAU Students’ Union.
NCB: Your sobriquet, Lèv doesn’t sound and appear like African’s. How did you come about it?
Lev: Smiles, the name is actually part or short form of my former username on Facebook, ‘Lèv Memoriosissimus Wordsmith Abiola. The Lèv part is gotten from a Russian writer, Lèv Tolstoy-author of War and Peace who I enjoy reading his literary works.
NCB: Wow! What an antithesis! “War and Peace.” You stand for both right?
Lev: Probably, war is one of the best way to achieve peace.
NCB: Hm! How long have you been in politics and what exactly inspired you?
Lev: Actually, we are all political animal right from birth as my friend Network do say, but I’m not really a politician. I’m just a Unionist and Obafemi Awolowo University inspired my unionism.
NCB: What’s unionism?
Lev: Literally, an advocate or supporter of unionism. And, what unionism entails is standing and fighting for the right of a group of people. We have Trade Union, Journalists Union, Labour Union, Union of Teachers etc. For now, I’m just a student unionist.
NCB: Are you a member of Take It Back movement?
Lev: As a conscious student, I see every organization that fight for the right of students and masses at large as a neccesity in this deteriorating society. So I solidarize and I’ve solidarized with organizations without neccesarily joining them TIB, DSM, MSA, ANSA etc. I’m not a devoted member of any organization on campus, but I join and support struggles that I feel is a right course.
NCB: Why aren’t you submissive to any? Are they not reliable enough? I mean, don’t you wholeheartedly trust any of these movement?
Lev: It’s not about trust, it’s just me. I don’t follow dogmatically, so I found being devoted not easy. If you are pushing for something that I believe in at a particular moment, I follow. If I don’t believe in your course next time, I won’t join you and will argue my stand and my view of the topic matter.
NCB: Alright! Let’s talk about the ongoing crisis. We learned that while OAU Students’ Union were away on “media confrontation”, some set of students perceived that as an unnecessary plan and embarked on what they tagged “Osun state concerned students protest”. Who and who stood up to air this out and chaired by who?
Lev: What I believe about Unionism is that, it is not a government. It’s a body of a parallel individual with a leader as their face and mouthpiece. So, as a union member, you dance only to the tune of your members and if there is an action you want to take as a union officer or leader then, you must give explanation for your action or inaction. Immediately there is objection to your moves from any angle then, you can try to convince your members why it’s neccesary and if their arguments against your action is much more stronger, there is no need to go with your plan and ask for another way forward. That’s the case of ‘the media confrontation’ but, that’s not the question you asked. The concerned students movement of Osun State organized a protest at the time when people felt it was high time we protested to show our grievances. Of course, as normal students, they have the right to organize a protest. Though I don’t really know the brain behind it but I’ve said, I join any course I feel it’s right. I joined and discovered it’s a leaderless protes, just consensus of the students present. I think, in my opinion, it’s a right and nice move then. I think I’ve answered your questions.
NCB: Yeah, I want to believe everything has been moving on smoothly right from the unison protest held on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively. Are you guys still cool now?
Lev: Before the Tuesday protest, there was a propaganda going around that concerned students want to undermine the Students’ Union and that they are trying to outshine them and OAU Students’ Union do not support the protest. I was really baffled wondering, was the protest against them. Why won’t they support and just solidarise, and is Union no more students’ or is the protest not a fight for students resumption? But, to avoid the thought that there is another motive to the protest, despite all odds, I implored the congress of the Monday Protest to let ‘Union’ take over, since the goal is to fight common enemies and the movement is the same. Back to your question, not only is concerned students not cool with the ‘Union’, the generality of students I believe are not cool with them, presently.
NCB: Why do you think students are not cool with them?
Lev: Because we smell something fishy and play of politics from the union that should stand for the students. There was a congress on Tuesday where it was suggested and decided that students will be going to ‘ASEJIRE’ but it was reversed on or before Wednesday that ASEJIRE is not a good place to stage a protest for some logical reasons, and the decision was reversed despite the congress decision and on Wednesday, protest was done only at OUI where we used to have it. Flashback, the evening of Tuesday, Union officers were invited to Ooni palace and they had meeting with the monarch. On Wednesday, I wasn’t present at the protest cause of health issue, but I asked for the resolution and I was told the congress pended the protest till Monday. I was confused and was thinking why could that be? We can still continue the protest, non-stop. After some minutes on Wednesday evening, I started to receive some calls and texts on my phone that the real intension behind the stoppage or pending of the protest is because Oyetola is coming to Ife today for campaign and that the previous congress was staged to achieve the aim. And, the rumor also reached us that the Union leaders collected some amount of money at the place to ensure that there isn’t protest today, Thursday (19-05-2022). I immediately sprung to action that if ASEJIRE decision could be reversed, this congress decision could be reversed too. 1. Because we cannot be closing down road on common masses since all these days, then won’t be standing up on Oyetola. 2. Because we raised banner that ‘Education Over Election’ and preventing the campaign will means we mean business. 3. We will be political and hypocritical if demonstration isn’t staged today(19-05-’22). 4. That the decision of the congress can be reversed either staged or not. And, we can all stand and make history. Argument was pushed from various corner in Great Ife Union’s Pages and we agreed that we would be at protest ground by 7am to prevent movement as usual. I trekked to Campus gate from AP. I took nothing for breakfast. Sumbade and I, we expected that the Union officers too would be there to prove that the allegations against them was wrong and they are ready to defend the mandate and trust students have with them but none of them was around. We, Comrade, that were available barricaded with little numbers we had and started gyrating. We held our ground till 11am when CSO ordered the police present to dismantle the protest becauseause the union executives told them that there won’t be protest today till Monday. Of course, we were overpowered and we went home with sorrow in our heart. We felt betrayed.
NCB: Have you or anyone tried to speak to the President on the alleged money and the CSO disruption?
Lev: We spoke to him before the protest, the record is here. Among other things, he said ‘…..stopping Oyetola today does not mean it’s the end of his life’, that means, he has made his position known. And when the police were removing our barricades, we saw him coming and instead of preventing it from happening, he stood and watched. The CSO even passed by him and Comrades were still present that time. He took no action. So?
NCB: Wow! Meaning that Reform must have had hand in the disruption right?
Lev: Every inaction and action has meaning.
NCB: Hm! What do you personally think about the “Media confrontation”? We learned it was a partisan in politics.
Lev: I am only of the opinion, personally, that 1. It’s not at appropriate time. 2. What could be achieved with it could be achieved without traveling down to Lagos. It could be done as ‘Press Conference’ in SUB. We don’t need to leave our power house, Ken Saro Wiwa building. 3. Even if the union leaders thought it was very neccesary, they should have given explanation before and not after. Maybe they would have convinced us, explanation is important. 4. At the moment it was done, it was ‘protest and demonstration’ students were demanding and agitating for. And it’s the students’ demand that should be the action of the union leader. My opinion, though.
NCB: You said there’s a record of Reform, claiming that, stopping Oyetola doesn’t mean it is the end of his life. Did he affirm to the money collected and how much is the money if I may ask?
Lev: Every information for this present administration usually comet as a ‘rumor’, 720k saga etc. But, when there is an allegation, a leader should deem it fit to deny it, because silence most of the time means YES. If you don’t have anything to do with any money, just deny it publicly. No denial means you are afraid that some people might have evidence. If I’m crystal clean then, I will come out crystal clean.
NCB: “…silence means yes.” You are a Parliamentarian in the union if I am correct? What exactly is your job?
Lev: Representing the interest of Great Ife Students at Parliamentary sittings.
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