By Ahmed Aminu-Ramatu YUSUF
The “Ali-Must-Go” protest, organised by the National Union of Nigerian Students (NUNS) and led by Segun Okeowo, is as important today as it was in 1978. But it was a milestone in the popular struggle for democracy and development by non-politicians.READ FULL ARTICLE>>>>
It was triggered by students’ opposition to the increase in school fees and cost of feeding, cancellation of the Students’ Loan Scheme, and the posting of soldiers to secondary schools to “maintain discipline” by the Obasanjo military junta. Students, nonetheless, traced the root causes of the protest to government squandering of billions of US Dollars on the: 1977 World Festival of Arts and Culture (FESTAC); ECOWAS Games; World Scout Jamboree; International Trade Fairs; massive importation of luxurious commodities; huge inflation of contracts; widespread corruption in high places; massive repatriation of profits by multinational companies, amongst others. Therefore, what led to Ali-Must-Go are still much on the ground. For the plundering of Nigeria’s natural resources, and looting of its commonwealth have reached monumental dimensions since 1999.
The suppression of Ali-Must-Go laid the concrete foundation for subsequent governments to abuse academic freedom, subvert the autonomy of educational institutions, and humiliate the entire campus communities. Today, schools have extremely degenerated below what they were in the 1970s. This is what NUNS struggled against and the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) continued from 1979 to 1995. Today, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is in the forefront of the struggle to salvage education in its entirety.
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Ali-Must-Go was the first nation-wide students’ protest in post-colonial Nigeria in which primary and secondary school children, women groups, and artisans massively participated. The military and police used helicopters, tear gas, batons, as well as rubber and live bullets to suppressed the protest. Students, school children and other citizens were injured, maimed and killed. Nowhere was Ali-Must-Go protest ferociously, viciously and brutishly brought down like in Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria.
Students’ leaders and activists were arrested, detained and imprisoned. NUNS itself was proscribed. Its properties confiscated. Its account frozen. Segun Okeowo, the NUNS’ President; Bukar Mbaya, the President of ABU Students’ Union, Ekpen Appah, the Chairman of the University of Benin Students’ Union, and Offiong Agua, the President of University of Calabar Students’ Union were all expelled. The vice chancellor of ABU, Professor Iya Abubakar, and that of University of Lagos, Professor I. Ade Ajayi, were compulsorily retired. A senior medical officer of the University of Lagos, Dr. Ladipo Sogbetun, was also forcibly retired. Eight academic staff, one university administrator and a journalist were dismissed.
The argument of this piece is that apologies for colonial massacres imply apologies for post-colonial massacres
NANS emerged, grew and developed on NUNS’ tradition of struggle and culture of resistance against authoritarianism and underdevelopment throughout the 1980s. Its progressive degeneration from 1994 to its miserable state today speaks very loudly of the deterioration of education.
The suppression of Ali-Must-Go by the Obasanjo government laid a firmly reinforced concrete foundation for the mass injury, raping and massacre of Nigerians by the police and armed forces in post-civil war Nigeria. Successive governments since 1978 developed this tradition. Shagari administration murdered Bakolori peasants demanding a fair compensation of their land on April 28, 1980 as well as citizens protesting the rigged general elections of 1983. Babangida junta massacred students demanding “Ango-Must-Go” in 1986; citizens for protesting the imposition and hardship of the IMF/World Bank Structural Adjustment Programme in the late 1980s; and Umuechem peasants for protesting environment degradation by Shell and demanding for roads, water and electricity on November 1, 1990.
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Abacha administration slaughtered protesters demanding the actualization of June 12 presidential election as well as Ogoni people for protesting Shell environmental degradation of their land, water and air with crude oil and gas. Obasanjo again butchered Ijaw citizens of Odi for protesting environment degradation and demanding the control of their natural resources in November 1999 before moving on Tiv citizens of Zaki Biam over the killing of nineteen soldiers. Buhari administration massacred Shia Muslims taking part in Quds day procession in Zaria on December 12th, 2015 before doing so to ENDSARS protesters against police brutality, unemployment, general economic hardship and hopelessness on October 20th, 2020.
Obasanjo is yet to apologize for the suppression of Ali-Must-Go protest. Col. Ahmadu Ali, the Federal Commissioner for Education at the time, and whose name became the metaphor for the protest, stated in Vanguard of January 29, 2014, that he had “always sympathised with them (students)”, adding that he did all he could to discourage the protest by directly engaging the NUNS’ leadership. He absorbed the education ministry he led, by stating that it was not the Education Ministry that “did the increment; it was done by the Supreme Military Council (SMC), which is the body that was above the Federal Executive Council.”
The culture of brutalizing and killing unarmed citizens by government must stop. The massacres committed should be reopened, discussed and documented for historical, political and moral purposes. Concrete measures should, thereafter, be put in place to hold leaders responsible, accountable and answerable for massacres of citizens. Democracy and development will grow and flourish when human lives are held sacrosanct and protected. Both will, however, become deeply rooted, self-generating, self-sustaining and self-propelling when the conditions in which people live and work are humanized and the nation developed. Massacre of citizens deeply negate democracy and development.
Those under whose watch massacres were committed should be made to apologize to society and humanity. For those leaders who are dead, the current government must apologize on their behalf. Late President Umar Musa Yar’adua apologized to the nation over the Zaki Bia massacre. Colonial powers of yesteryears are apologizing for the massacres and genocides they committed against colonized and imperialized people.
Obasanjo who has been variously labelled “an African and international elder statesman”, “a Pan-Africanist”, “a steady critic of Nigerian political life”, “a professional letter writer” on democracy, etc., – should set the ball rolling by apologizing for the massacres of unarmed, defenseless, democracy inspired, and development propelled students and citizens under his watch. Healing starts with confession and apology.READ FULL ARTICLE>>>>
The author who was a Deputy Director in the Federal Civil Service, retired as General Manager (Administration with the Nigerian Meteorological Agency, (NiMet). aaramatuyusuf@yahoo.com
