Fellow Nigerians, sorry oh i need someone to confirm if what i heard about Tinubu is true. I learnt the APC leader has called on Nigerian students to march on Aso Villa. Is it true? A newspaper reported Tinubu to have said: “It is time Nigerians move away from lamentation and move with the strength of liberation. It is time we did not give excuses for failure, inadequacies and accountability in governance. I am sorry if they don’t resume tomorrow, I order those students to be out on the streets. If our vehicles have no way to pass; if they can move to the Villa and sack the Villa, it is for their future. We should stop lamenting this as a challenge.” Well, if this is true, Mr. Tinubu don goof be that! Ive lost count of the number of times this man has mobilized state mercenaries against protesting students and workers in Lagos State as Governor, and most recently we have had cases of APC Governors instructing security agents to quash peaceful protests held by students against outrageous fee hikes, anti- student policies among other issues. With 2015 in view, this man is only trying to position himself as a friend of Nigerian students and people in general. He is mainly interested in worsening the dwindling public perception and acceptance of the ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Lagos State University (LASU) students can attest to his numerous attacks on students rights to protest during his reign as governor and afterwards. Of all the state- owned universities in Nigeria, LASU remains the state university with the highest record of closure. In 2009, LASU was shut down for five months following an internal crisis which arouse from a demand by both staff and students unions for the removal of the former Vice Chancellor, Prof. Lateef Hussein as VC. Hussein was imposed on the university community for a second term after the expiration of his first term in office. During his time as Governor precisely in 2005, Tinubu directed the university authority to increase school fees from N250 for old students to N25,000, while the freshmens old fee of 1, N1,000 was increased to N35,000. Recently, in October, 2011, the ACN (now APC)-led State Government imposed a 725% increment in fees payable by students of LASU. The highest fee being N348, 750 (for medical students) - several times higher than the minimum wage! Despite the two-month closure of the school amidst students protest, the government neither reversed the fee hike nor reduced the fees. Barely two years after the increment, the resultant effect has become very obvious. For the 2012/2013 academic session, the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Oladapo Obafunwa disclosed that out of the 2,784 students offered admission; only 2,008 were cleared for matriculation. Meanwhile, about 3,000 students sat for the post UTME examination. For the incoming academic session, according to a report by the Punch newspaper as at July 19, 2013, only about 1,100 candidates had registered for post- UTME examination (Punch July 30, 2013). These figures are a far cry from what was obtainable in the pre-fee hike era. The number of students that used to sit for similar examination in the four years before the hike fluctuated between the 15,000 and 20,000. It also fall short of the 5,000 carrying capacity issued LASU by the National Universities Commission (NUC). These and many more are the sins of Tinubu and his political party against Nigerian students. I wish to call on all Nigerian students to shut Tinubu up, hes not in any position to speak for or advice Nigerian students in matters like this.
Posted on: Sun, 26 Jan 2014 22:41:59 +0000
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