WE MOURN THE PASSING AWAY OF AN UNFULFILLED PROGRESSIVE We join the good people of Ogun State to mourn the passing away of Chief Segun Okeowo. Segun Okeowo should naturally be one of the outstanding characters of the Nigerian nation state if, like other saner countries, we cherish men and women that give up their comfort to champion the cause of the mass. We recall Okeowos exploit as President of the National Union of Nigerian Universities (NUNS) and the principled and committed leadership he provided Nigerian students against a befuddled military government under the then Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo headman. With the intuitive attribute of a conscious progressive, Okeowo and his colleagues back in 1978 had raised the gauntlet against the military government when the then Minister of Education, then Col. Ahmadu Ali, announced an increase in the cost of meal to students in Nigerian universities by 50k. This was at a time the Naira exchanged to a Dollar at below 50k. It was the first real attempt by government to introduce fees and other payments into Nigerian higher institutions. Okeowo and his colleagues in the NUNS rose up in protest against the increase, insisting that children of the Nigerian poor will be the most affected. The military government would use all in its power to stamp out the protest, including the proscription of NUNS and the hounding into detention the leaders of that great movement. Yet, Okeowo remained unbowed. All through is modest life, he remained committed to the ideals of a society where equity and justice took preeminence. Unfortunately, he lived and died in a Nigeria where his dreams just refused to be fulfilled...just like the dreams of those of us left to mourn him, as we share the despair and frustration of States and country that simply refused to heed to the common sense of developing a decent environment of living for their people. We, however, are refreshed by the death of Okeowo to renew our commitment to facilitating a new Lagos and on that platform, a new Nigeria. We are refreshed by the fact that the wailing of the deprived in the society have watered and nurtured the ground for a true change in the polity. We look forward to our immediate future with hope and high expectations because we have simply refused to remain docile. WE HAVE DECIDED TO TAKE UP OUR HISTORIC ROLE TO FIGHT THIS INDECENT SYSTEM
Posted on: Tue, 28 Jan 2014 11:42:13 +0000
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