Obasanjo killed students’ unionism, says Bakare

The Convener of Save Nigeria Group and the General Overseer of Latter Rain Assembly, Pastor Tunde Bakare, has accused former President Olusegun Obasanjo of killing students’ unionism in
the country when he was the military Head of State in 1978.

He made the allegation at the June 12 Cultural Centre, Kuto, Abeokuta, on Monday. The occasion was the 2014 anniversary of the International Day of Students.

He said Obasanjo, as the then Head of State in 1978, used brute force to repress the students during the ‘Ali Must Go’ protest. Some students were killed in the protest. One of them was Akintunde Ojo.
Delivering a paper titled, “Good Governance: Sustainability of Democracy, the Role of Students in the Forthcoming General Elections,” Bakare said it was unfortunate that students’ unionism had
been hijacked by unserious students.

He added that not only had students’ unionism fallen from its pinnacle of intellectual doggedness and ideological astuteness, it had also lost its activist steam, become a mere appendage of ruling political parties and a tool in the hands of corrupt politicians.
Tracing the history of students’ unionism from the
colonial days, he noted that it suffered a fatal blow
in 1978.
He said, “General Olusegun Obasanjo’s
government ordered the brutal suppression of that
protest. Live bullets were unleashed on protesting
students.

Source: The Punch