It was in the inglorious days of the Abacha administration that Rasheedat Adesina, Barrister at Law, had the misfortune in 1995 of becoming an undergraduate of the University of Ilorin.
The erstwhile Vice-Chancellor, Professor Shuaib Abdulraheem Oba, an Ilorin indigene, had just assumed office and had justifiably hoped, according to Adesina, to have the latter’s full support in running his affairs.
Never had Adesina imagined that a routine protest against a fee hike at the university would have her battling in the courts and beyond, with Professor Oba and the institution for her certificate for the next two decades.
As she is finally called to the Nigerian Bar this year, an exulted Rasheedat shares her incredible story with WO
What informed your decision to join the Student Union as a fresh student of the University of Ilorin?
I became a convinced Marxist in 1995 when I gained admission into the University of Ilorin to study Industrial Chemistry. This marvelous idea was introduced to me by my best friend and life partner; comrade Kazeem Akinrinde (aka comrade Kazy), who was already on Campus before me. I was put forward to a contest in the Student Union in 1997 by my organization. As a radical Marxist candidate, I won that election overwhelmingly.
What was the cause of the conflict between you and your Vice-Chancellor?
Oba, as an Ilorin indigene mobilized lecturers and students who were also Ilorin indigenes against everybody and everything else. With the Emir and Government on his side, he was deeply pained and terribly disappointed that I did not only decline to be a tool in his hands, but ended up being the leader of one of the most powerful student oppositions. He vowed that over his dead body would I graduate from the campus. On several occasions, he vowed to ensure that he ruined my life and make sure that I everlastingly regret my stand.
Was it at this point that you went to court?
Then commenced the long and difficult legal battles that ran for almost It started in 1998 when there was an astronomical increase in the school fees. Having banned the local union, myself and other comrades along with the NANS Zone D massively mobilized students against this hated fee hike.
Our peaceful protest was brutally crushed by both the internal security of the university, as well as the police. Many students were arrested, including the NANS Zone D representative who came in Ladoke Akintola’s (LAUTECH) Students Union bus. Even the bus was detained and taken to the police headquarters in Ilorin. The arrested students and the NANS Zone D representative; comprising students from LAUTECH and OAU were all detained and imprisoned at the Oke Kura Maximum Security Prison in Ilorin for more than 30days.
I only narrowly escaped, then surprised to read in almost all the then-popular newspapers that I have been declared wanted. I could only imagine the trauma this had on my parents. I immediately went underground. As is always the case, suspension from school immediately followed.
I challenged this unjust suspension at the Federal High Court in Ilorin and I won, but the university authorities in their characteristic manner refused to abide by the court order. I had to go back to court to get a committal order (form 48 and 49) before I could be allowed to sit for exams. It was such a very difficult period; you would have exam the following day and won’t be sure you would be allowed. Whenever I had an exam, I would go into the exam hall with the court order. My final year examination in the year 2000 started and ended in this manner. I would take out the court order and asked the person to sign that he/she was disobeying the court order.
The Administration refused to release my result and consequently, my certificate. I returned to Federal High Court in 2004 to challenge this injustice and won in 2005. The University Administration appealed to the Court Of Appeal. At the Court of Appeal, once again I won in 2006. The management proceeded to Supreme Court to further appeal.
How did you become a lawyer?
In 2010, ten years after graduating and without a certificate, I decided to go back to school to read Law. This was not accidental, because I have been in and out of court and law chambers throughout my stay in the University of Ilorin. I was with Comrade Barrister Segun Sango my first Counsel in 1998, then Barrister Baiyeshea chambers and finally Citi-point chambers. I was already very familiar with some legal terminologies; form 48 and 49, injunctions, affidavit among others. I was already joining lawyers to prepare briefs for my cases. As a pure science student, the journey looked too long and daunting, but with determination I commenced. I had to start from scratch. I wrote GCE in 2011, proceeded to write Jamb in 2012 and Post UTME. Finally gained admission to study law at the University of Ibadan in the 2013/14 session. Along the line, the Supreme Court delivered a favorable final judgment on the case on June 6, 2014, after 14years of graduation, and already a 200L Law student. Though millions of Naira was eventually paid in damages, the really good news was that my certificate was released while Professor Oba is still alive.
Looking back, I have no any iota of regret, as we always say, Aluta Continua and Victoria Ascerta. Throughout this long and tortuous year, I still remain solidly committed to the cause. The battle has only successfully strengthened my resolve to join all the revolutionaries to overthrow this monstrous Capitalist System and build in its place, a more humane society where human beings can freely develop their full potentials unhindered.
Looking at the Student Unions of higher institutions today, can you compare them with the old days?
Student Unions of higher institutions today cannot be compared with the past. There was a time in the history of this country when students were at the forefront of agitation not only for the direct interest of their fellow students but also directly involved in national issues. Most student unions today are completely dependent and mere extensions of the school authorities. Now, “students’ leaders” wish to be punished so that he/she can raise support funds to travel out of the country on the sympathetic level. Some want to go to detention for them to be able to collect money from one NGO sponsor or the other. The readiness to go all out for sacrifice, like during our days has really collapsed.
However, the collapse is not restricted to the Student Unions alone. How are NASU, ASUU and others now? Absence of left radical organizations on our campuses is directly responsible for this decadence, but there is a deeper cause.
Fortunately, we are already seeing the resurgence of radical students in one campus after the other. Femi Adeyeye in Unilag is still being unjustly denied his right to education; there is a case of Phillips Alotinwo in UI who was expelled about 5 years ago and still has his case in court. The inhuman condition students have been subjected to, is already radicalizing a layer. Though this layer is still very small, we are very hopeful that students will win back their unions and NANS from the impostors currently heading them. We just need to give maximum support.
Generally speaking, what advice do you have for the #sorosoke movement and Nigerian youth agitators?
The #sorosoke movement no doubt was one of the most unprecedented youth movements in the history of the country. The movement, though spontaneous was in the real sense, an expression of the accumulated anger, frustration, and discontent of the majority of Nigerian youth, who unfortunately have been the worst hit by the crisis of capitalism in Nigeria, in terms of massive unemployment, abject poverty, and a very bleak future.
The scale and magnitude of this movement, the way, and manner it spread to many states in the country were commendable but one of the most significant weaknesses of this magnificent movement was the lack of serious organization and leadership that can provide the political direction for the movement. Ironically, those that the #sorosoke movement was directed against (the Nigerian ruling elite) are a very organised and determined force; they have all the apparatus of the state at their disposal and will do everything possible to protect and defend their interests. In order to effectively confront this monstrous power of the elite, serious organisation and revolutionary leadership is absolutely necessary. My advice to the courageous and determined Nigerian youth is for them to be fully involved in revolutionary politics; that is, politics in the interest of the majority as against the current bourgeois politics, which is always politics in the selfish interest of an insignificant few.
What are your future plans-Law, Activism or Politics?
The cheapest and most basic of Nigeria’s problems can no longer be solved by patching here and mending there. It is only through a Socialist Revolution that genuine emancipation of the working class and downtrodden can genuinely be won.
Therefore, my future plan is to renew my commitment and dedication to this cause. The war of the elite against the people is still on and raging, the journey is still very far. The country is sinking, there is general decadence in the society, and the legal system in the country is not also immune to this decadence. I plan to exploit the law in the defense of the oppressed working class and the poor while having it in mind that real emancipation and justice for the working class and the poor can only be achieved through the revolutionary overthrow of this blood-sucking system of capitalism. The struggle continues until the final victory.
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