AS MY STAY WINDS DOWN. AS MY STAY WINDS DOWN | by Oladepo Joshua Temitope | Aug, 2025

As my stay on campus, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife winds down, the memory of my first day on campus flashed back. That very day, I resumed as a tabula rasa, with little or no knowledge about the campus I was coming to. Or perhaps, if the knowledge of “Great Ife” counts, I’d say I have little knowledge of the University.
The night of my resumption was lonely and with mixed feelings of what this campus holds for me. But at least, the èko (solid pap) from maternal grandmother gave me a soothing path and that gave me a peaceful night rest. For what the pap did that night, I’ll be eternally grateful to my grandmother.
Initially, Political Science was never in the picture. Again my blind love for “Great Ife” even though I don’t really know what is Great about the university made me change my dream of becoming a lawyer to studying Political science. Here is the little story:
I have always been a bright student from my primary school till my secondary school days until my WASSCE result came out. My journey as a failure started. Alas, senior boy failed English keh? Kamari! (God forbids!) But, God never forbade as He watched me write WAEC GCE before he could forgive all my sins and gruntly gave me C6. Hallelujah, I can proceed to the University.
Dilemma struck again at the point of choosing a University to attend. I honestly don’t know any university apart from the University of Ibadan and I had to pay for it, even though I don’t like it. “Okay, okay, I’d choose the University of Ibadan” I told the person that took me and others to register for UTME. I had picked Law as my favourite course to study. Hallelujah, the dreams are coming true! I’d finally become a lawyer. This UTME, first of the two I wrote was in 2018 if my memory is still in good order.
Score came out and I scored 239! The highest in my tutorial centre! Then came the feelings and thoughts. I was born, bred and schooled in Ibadan, and inside of me, I don’t want a University that is a stone throw from my house. This means that I have to change institutions. As my Dad’s favourite child, I persuaded him to give money for the change of institution of which he obliged without questions. Yes, that is my father, he might question my siblings on matters like this, but, for me, he has a blind faith in me that I will never do bad. In my own case, as far as my father is concerned, it’s not only the Queen that can do no wrong.
Moving forward, I started my admission journey into Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. How I got to know about the institution? I got a new itel button phone between the period and I searched the internet and alas, OAU Ife really suits my interest. Lest I forget, I couldn’t process Law again because the course was not accredited during that period and no student can be admitted into a course that didn’t exist for the time being.
Given Law’s disaccreditaion, I had to opt for the lesser evil — Political Science. At least, to the best of knowledge as of then, Political Science and Law are like brothers and sisters. The whole admission process came and gone and I wasn’t admitted because I was 0.8 percent below cut-off! Holy crap! Another failure again! “Maybe I was born to do things twice’’ I said to myself.
My parents wanted me to pursue other institutions, Oke-Ogun Polytechnic, Saki was the anointed institution, but alas, I had fallen in love with the prestigious Obafemi Awolowo University. I rejected the polytechnic idea and told myself that I will try again and pass. At least, I always pass the second time.
As if I was a prophet, I scored 250 in the second UTME and guess what again? Law isn’t accredited still and Political Science again was the option. OAU before my dream! The year following my admission into the University saw Law accredited and students were admitted that year! “I should have waited!” I told myself.
However, that was the last time I have to fail the first time to pass the second time. I signed out three Saturdays ago but, from my part one till my final day, I’ve never had the cause to rerun a course. Maybe, WAEC and UTME were the ones at fault and there has been nothing wrong with my intellect during that time.
During my stay on campus, many would have loved to have me hanged, the University authorities inclusive. Even though they couldn’t hang me, they arrested, tortured and threw me into Moore police station. My only crime was expressing my fundamental rights to freedom of expression! What happened that day will be a topic for another day.
And some, through my hatred and fight against injustice, some loved me, always wanted to relate with me, and some even sort advice from me on how to lead, serve and ensure that injustice didn’t have a place in our society.
I never came into OAU as an activist. Maybe an activist, but not as a refined Marxist. If secondary school action counts, maybe I have been an activist since Junior Secondary School III. That fateful evening, I led my classmates to show our grievances to our Principal against our Biology teacher who during first period, entered our classroom, refused to teach us, talked gibberish and lastly, gave an assignment that the textbooks and the internet might not be able to solve! “This height of injustice will not stand” I told myself.
“A teacher should teach first, before assessing us or even giving us an inglorious assignment” The Martin Luther King Jnr. in me started conscientizing my classmates and boom, like the Red Russian Army, we matched off to the Principal’s office! The teacher was sternly warned, served a query and told to do her work diligently! As many would say we’re lazy and are not ready to ransack the internet for the assignment we were given, many would agree with me that, the primary assignment of a teacher is to teach and not to grunt in the classroom about her family, or other personal related issues. If this count, I have a badge of an activist since JSS 3.
The present me — a refined and convinced Marxist cannot be delinked from the history of this institution, or I should say Union, as a radical, socialist, pro-people, anti-establishment and anti-cultist Union roused the sleeping beast of activism in me. The Great Ife Students’ Union has fought and won many battles, from the Adeola Soetan’s fight against fee increment and societal injustice to the Union being the frontier of anti-military protests to the the 1999 anti-cultism crusade led by George Akinyemi Iwilade (God rests his soul), to the 3As fight against neo-liberal policies to the pelting of the sitting President, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, off the campus area in 2014 for his conscious institutionalisation of insecurity, hunger, poverty and other neo-liberal policies. Oh wow, that is/was a Union!
All these histories, all summed up, when I came in contact with them, inspired me to go read more. I started meeting like minds. At least, once-upon-a-time activists like Korede, Indomitable hemmanent and many others. Reality, the best teacher sets in. First of many realities was the #JusticeForAishat protest in 2021, then the #EndASUUStrike (May 12, 2022, I sacrificed my birthday for this mass action.) protest, till my last action, #WikeMustGo, a two-man action against the minister of FCT! This action didn’t come without a price. The price we paid was torture, our phones collected and never returned and also, and were detained at Moore police station for many hours.
The utmost conviction came in 2023, when Ewatee, one of the Great Ife radicals messaged me if I would like to participate in the FES-ANSA convention at the University of Ibadan. I happily accepted and this convention allowed me to meet activists like Juwon Sanyaolu, Kunle Ajayi “Wizeman” and also Soneye LAS. I also met valiant comrades like Ayodele Aduwo from UI, Damilare from UI also, IK from TASUED, Lilian from TASUED, and Aishat from Olabisi Onabanjo University, with whom we are raising the banner of free and quality education very high, under our ever-radical movement, Alliance of Nigerian Students Against Neo-Liberal Attacks, ANSA
I have no regrets for all actions and fight against injustice. Through, Marxism, I have better understood the society, the inequality in it, the unequal distribution of resources, patriarchy and other systemic oppression. I came into campus as a two-eyed man, I shall be leaving as a man with uncountable eyes, with the zeal to challenge this capitalist system, for a just and egalitarian socialist society.
“Every generation must out relative obscurity; discover it’s mission, fulfill it or betray it” This words of Frantz Fanon in 1961 have been my guide on the four walls of this campus, and they shall be the guide as I, and the Nigerian people shall challenge the system!