Governor Ajimobi of Oyo State abuses protesting Students
During the protest, the number one citizen of the
Southwest State was seen talking down on
protesting students whose institution has been
shuttered for eight months.
"You complain that your school has been shut
down for eight months", the Governor blares in
Yoruba. "Am I the one who closed your school?"
As the student voices get louder, Ajimobi gets
visibly irritated and antsy.
"If this is how you want to talk to me, then go
ahead and do your worst. If you think you can be
troublesome, I dare you...I am ready for you. Let's
see what you can do.
"You have no respect for constituted authority",
Ajimobi lectured on. "This is not the first time
schools are getting shut. If your school was shut
down for eight months, so what?
My goodness!!
"If you come here shouting at me, I am not going
to talk to you. If you came here to start a fight, do
go ahead. This government will not tolerate any
nonsense from anybody".
And then, he dismissed the agitated students
with a wave of the hand after plenty of back
and forth.
"I am not going to talk to you again", the
Governor announced. "Even if I don't pay salary,
the fact is that I am the constituted authority for
Oyo State".
It was all I needed to throw my smartphone
under the chair and out of sight.
For a moment, you would have been forgiven for
thinking that the man in the middle of your
picture was some military dictator, not a
Governor who was elected by the same people
he was talking down on.
Here's some context to the entire debacle:
The students probably belong to the Ladoke
Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH).
LAUTECH is jointly owned by the Oyo and Osun
State governments.
In June of 2016, LAUTECH was shut down
because lecturers and other workers of the
institution have been owed months in salaries.
On December 9, 2016, angry LAUTECH students
took to the streets to protest the closure of
their school. They were immediately met with
Police tanks and were dispersed with live bullets
and teargas canisters.
When a State Governor who should be very sad
at the ramifications of shutting down a school
for close to a year, chooses to dismiss students
and hurl insults and invectives on them instead,
we all should be sad.
Sad because it is little wonder that our country
is in the sorry state it is.
Governor Ajimobi should be ashamed of himself.
He's an utter disgrace to the people who
elected him.
He's serving his second term, so he won't need
the votes of these same people in the future, he
must have thought.
But if he as much as thought about the value of
education in a State and region where access to
education is often held as a totem, he won't be
so rude.
The real tragedy is that he belongs to the APC --
Nigeria's governing party which promised to
educate more people before 2019.
This week, all the Southwest leaders of the APC
gathered in Ibadan. It's doubtful if all the
ministers, Governors and lawmakers at the
meeting room, mentioned providing quality
education to their people.
No one cares.
LAUTECH belongs to the Osun State government
as much as it belongs to the Oyo State
government. Remind me again if Governor Rauf
Aregbesola has made any meaningful moves to
see that school reopened.
When students protest because their school has
been shut, it's because more than their leaders,
they understand the value of an education in a
country that has depended on rent from crude
oil for sustenance since the '60s--instead of its
human resource.
Governors Aregbesola and Ajimobi have done
themselves little favours for each day that
school remains shut. To think that these are the
same leaders who'll lament the rising rate of
crime and social vices in their States.
Certainly, like most of the political leaders in
Nigeria, they are too arrogant, cocky and rude
to see the nexus between the country's poor
educational standard and rising inequality.
They are too set in their own ways to realise
that when you don't provide an education, you
do your State or country a huge disservice.
You set the country several steps back. You are
not likely to recover from an economic
recession if your people aren't educated.
But these Governors and politicians have been
so blinded by filthy lucre and the primitive
accumulation of wealth, to care.
Ajimobi's performance on the day was a show
of shame.
In more serious countries, lawmakers would
have him impeached before the end of the
working week.
Thanks..
Follow on instagram @tee_exclusive_productions
Southwest State was seen talking down on
protesting students whose institution has been
shuttered for eight months.
"You complain that your school has been shut
down for eight months", the Governor blares in
Yoruba. "Am I the one who closed your school?"
As the student voices get louder, Ajimobi gets
visibly irritated and antsy.
"If this is how you want to talk to me, then go
ahead and do your worst. If you think you can be
troublesome, I dare you...I am ready for you. Let's
see what you can do.
"You have no respect for constituted authority",
Ajimobi lectured on. "This is not the first time
schools are getting shut. If your school was shut
down for eight months, so what?
My goodness!!
"If you come here shouting at me, I am not going
to talk to you. If you came here to start a fight, do
go ahead. This government will not tolerate any
nonsense from anybody".
And then, he dismissed the agitated students
with a wave of the hand after plenty of back
and forth.
"I am not going to talk to you again", the
Governor announced. "Even if I don't pay salary,
the fact is that I am the constituted authority for
Oyo State".
It was all I needed to throw my smartphone
under the chair and out of sight.
For a moment, you would have been forgiven for
thinking that the man in the middle of your
picture was some military dictator, not a
Governor who was elected by the same people
he was talking down on.
Here's some context to the entire debacle:
The students probably belong to the Ladoke
Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH).
LAUTECH is jointly owned by the Oyo and Osun
State governments.
In June of 2016, LAUTECH was shut down
because lecturers and other workers of the
institution have been owed months in salaries.
On December 9, 2016, angry LAUTECH students
took to the streets to protest the closure of
their school. They were immediately met with
Police tanks and were dispersed with live bullets
and teargas canisters.
When a State Governor who should be very sad
at the ramifications of shutting down a school
for close to a year, chooses to dismiss students
and hurl insults and invectives on them instead,
we all should be sad.
Sad because it is little wonder that our country
is in the sorry state it is.
Governor Ajimobi should be ashamed of himself.
He's an utter disgrace to the people who
elected him.
He's serving his second term, so he won't need
the votes of these same people in the future, he
must have thought.
But if he as much as thought about the value of
education in a State and region where access to
education is often held as a totem, he won't be
so rude.
The real tragedy is that he belongs to the APC --
Nigeria's governing party which promised to
educate more people before 2019.
This week, all the Southwest leaders of the APC
gathered in Ibadan. It's doubtful if all the
ministers, Governors and lawmakers at the
meeting room, mentioned providing quality
education to their people.
No one cares.
LAUTECH belongs to the Osun State government
as much as it belongs to the Oyo State
government. Remind me again if Governor Rauf
Aregbesola has made any meaningful moves to
see that school reopened.
When students protest because their school has
been shut, it's because more than their leaders,
they understand the value of an education in a
country that has depended on rent from crude
oil for sustenance since the '60s--instead of its
human resource.
Governors Aregbesola and Ajimobi have done
themselves little favours for each day that
school remains shut. To think that these are the
same leaders who'll lament the rising rate of
crime and social vices in their States.
Certainly, like most of the political leaders in
Nigeria, they are too arrogant, cocky and rude
to see the nexus between the country's poor
educational standard and rising inequality.
They are too set in their own ways to realise
that when you don't provide an education, you
do your State or country a huge disservice.
You set the country several steps back. You are
not likely to recover from an economic
recession if your people aren't educated.
But these Governors and politicians have been
so blinded by filthy lucre and the primitive
accumulation of wealth, to care.
Ajimobi's performance on the day was a show
of shame.
In more serious countries, lawmakers would
have him impeached before the end of the
working week.
Thanks..
Follow on instagram @tee_exclusive_productions
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