July 10, 1999 OAU MASSACRE. How it happened; by an eye witness. Their main targets were Student Union activists. That morning at about 2-3 a.m. some students observed some strange people on the campus dressed in black and wearing masks. They sensed immediately that they were cultists going for an attack. The students went to the union leaders to get them to act. Unfortunately they did not take the warning seriously. They were tired because the Union had been involved in organising a rally the day before. By 4 a.m., the cultists had reached block 8 in Awolowo Hall where the Student Union is based. The bandits wanted to strike a severe blow at the Union and strike fear into the minds of the students. The first student they saw who was sleeping in the corridor they shot in the head without questioning. Sleeping in the corridor is very common here as the university has refused to build more hostels to accommodate students. They found the Secretary General of the Union, George Iwilade, popularly known as Africa in his bed and shot him immediately in the head. Then they smashed his head with their axe to make sure he was dead. As this was going on the other cultists opened fire at random. They were looking for the President of the Student Union, Lanre Adeleke, popularly known as Legacy. They shouted, Legacy come out your life has been paid for. They shouted this at all the Union activists they were looking for. The gunshots woke up Legacy and as he opened the door they shot at him and killed him. His room-mate jumped out of the second floor window immediately and managed to escape. They then went after the students shouting, Awo boys come out if you dare, Awo boys must leave this school, we are going to call back, etc. In the process, they entered some rooms and shot defenceless students. Some were shot in the bush. Awo boys refers to the militant students on that campus who traditionally reside in Awolowo Hall. This is the hall where the cultists are usually taken to whenever the students arrest them. They are usually interrogated there about their activities. They fear the hall and they have been hoping for the day that they could have their revenge. That night I was sleeping with seven other students in a room meant for one, in Fajuyi Hall. At about 4 a.m. in the morning, when we heard the gunshots we all rushed out because many of us were likely targets. Our fears were later confirmed. We had previously heard that the Black Axe secret cult organisation was planning an attack on the student movement at Ife as it is one of the few campuses where they cannot operate freely due to the militant traditions built over the years by the left. When we got downstairs we saw the Public Relations Officer of the Student Union running towards us and shouting that secret cult gangsters were killing people in the Awolowo Hall, a male students hostel. He wanted to alert the students to mobilise them towards resisting the attack. However, within ten minutes into his address, we heard gunshots close by and we all had to run for cover, some of us ran into the nearby bush, others into open rooms and the toilets. The cultists first smashed open room 11 in block 1. All the occupants were lying on their beds terrified, but hey did not kill anybody in that room. They then went up the block to the Student Union room, number 56, housing the Welfare Officer and the Finance Officer. They smashed the door open only to find that they had also left the room when they had heard the first gunshots. A medical student, Eviano Ekelemu, in room 55, opened his door to see what was going on. They shot him in the lower stomach without asking any questions. He died about twenty minutes later at the University Health Centre. After they shot him, they were heard to have said that the mosquito has died! The casualties that morning stood at five dead. About eighteen students were shot in all. One student who ran through a bush path to the nearby female students hall to warn them about the attack saw the cultists leaving through the same bush path. He was very lucky, as he was one of the major targets of the cultists. I had to treat myself for shock for some minutes after the bandits left. Immediately after the killings there was a massive outcry everywhere. After the students congress in the morning the students went looking for the cultists. The first suspects were the university authorities themselves. We now know what they mean by summary expulsion for raising the issue of reinstatement and standing for independent unionism. By Sunday some of the cultists had been captured by the student militias. One of the assassins was caught along with one other person. His revelations are very shocking. He linked the attack on the students to the then VC, prof Wale omole.
Posted on: Fri, 11 Jul 2014 07:09:01 +0000
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