OOU Management Proscribe Institution’s Student Union Government

The management of the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye, Ogun state, has scrapped the institution’s Student Union Government, SUG.

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The Ogun State government earlier shutdown the university on Saturday citing security reasons after it failed to reach an agreement with the student on the reduction of tuition fee.

In a circular released Tuesday, the OOU’s Acting Registrar said the SUG was scrapped for allegedly collaborating with “external influences”.

“Student union ‎Government has been proscribed forthwith for collaborating with unregistered group and external influences”, the Registrar said.

The school said it will call for a parents’ forum meeting to discuss the closure of the institution and the way forward. ‎

‎”A meeting of the Parents Forum and the University Management will be called in due course to discuss the implication of the closure and the way forward.
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“Parents and guardians are hereby advised to ensure that their wards comply with this university directive and go home to avoid unpleasant circumstances,‎” OOU said.

Reacting to the proscription in a press statement, the president of the “scrapped” SUG, Ifade Olusegun, said it is illegal but not surprising.

“The released news by the School Management as regards the proscription of OOU SUG is not coming as a surprise, because we saw it coming before now.

“However, the Union without any reserved apology, vehemently and unequivocally rejects such illegal proscription, owning to the fact that the ground given by the management is baseless, unverifiable, fallacious and inconsequential,” the student leader said.

The student body said the university lacks power to proscribe the union as the body is a constitutional right.

“The formulation of the Students’ Union was by the entire Students of OOU in respect to their right of freedom of association which is entrenched in the constitution of the 1999 Federal Republic of Nigeria, and so, the school singularly lacks the constitutional power to proscribe the Union”.

The SUG also urged the students of the university to disregard the information released by the school while they must remain “rugged, calm, lawful and be resolute as we move on collectively”.

Olabisi Onabanjo University, OOU, has been hit by crisis for weeks after the Ogun State government introduced new tuition fees. The school has been closed.

On Monday, police were deployed to the school and other strategic locations in the state.