Seven years after rustication, student activist graduates from UNILAG

Seven years after being rusticated by UNILAG’s University of Lagos in 2016, student activist Olorunfemi Adeyeye has earned his certification.

Adeyeye was rusticated for organizing and leading a large-scale demonstration against the inadequate campus infrastructure, but he was later reinstated in 2022.

The student activist, a Department of Building graduate, was suspended along with other student activists for taking part in the demonstrations on April 6 and 8, 2016, which resulted in the closure of the school and the subsequent indefinite suspension of the University of Lagos Students Union.

In a Facebook post titled “The Senate of the University of Lagos; a conglomeration of academic ignorami,”

Adeyeye was also charged with criticizing the institution’s leadership for their failure to handle situations as “democrats.”. ”

Adeyeye, who was pictured standing at attention in his sign-out photos that he posted on his Facebook page on Monday, was wearing a white shirt with the words, “It needed attention, and I gave it full to continue with the important things. Grateful. ”

Adeyeye was accused by UNILAG authorities of leading a group of National Association of Nigerian Students members onto the campus of the university on March 31, 2016, with the intention of obstructing the work of the Dean of Student Affairs’ office.

Adeyeye was suspended at the time. Adeyeye and other student leaders were found to have broken a rule in the university’s 2015-2016 student information handbook, the university claimed in a statement, rather than being punished for their participation in campus protests.

In response to the accusation, Adeyeye revealed that he and other student leaders were invited to a panel by the university known as the “Special Senate Disciplinary Committee on Recent Students’ Protest,” where it was stated that they were rusticated for taking part in a protest.

Adeyeye refuted the claim at the time. He asserted that every statement he made in the Facebook post the university cited demonstrated the undemocratic nature of the resolution the university Senate passed regarding his rustication.

“That the university came out and said that was rather depressing. A false statement has been made. I was asked to participate on a panel with other student leaders. The panel’s official title was “Special Senate Discipline Committee on Recent Students’ Protest.”.

’Everything I said in the article I published on my Facebook page pointed to the fact that the Senate’s resolution was not the result of a democratic process, especially with the student leaders who took part in the protest.

“From the day I was admitted to the university until the day I was rusticated, there was no rule in the student handbook that stated ‘unauthorised use of university name, logo, etc. in a manner that would bring the university to disrepute,'” Adeyeye had claimed.