The two University of Abuja (UniAbuja) final-year students, Cyprian Igwe and Olamilekan Oladeru, who were recently expelled by the institution for allegedly plotting to protest the pending increase in tuition, have expressed concern over their situation and have turned to the National Assembly for help.
The pair insisted that their expulsion was unfair, and they pleaded with the Senate to persuade the school administration to allow them to return. If they did, they would no longer be punished for a crime they did not commit.
Igwe and Oladeru, who serve as the director of social and cultural affairs and the director of athletics for the university’s Students’ Union Government (SUG), respectively, had just finished their final exams and were awaiting results when they were expelled from the institution for the same alleged transgression.
According to reports, the school terminated the student’s enrollment for allegedly inciting other students to stage a protest if the administration didn’t reverse its decision to raise tuition within five days.
Igwe recalled that he was coerced into signing his rustication letter by the university’s security intelligence unit when he was asked about the case’s status in a new interview with the Nigerian Tribune on Tuesday.
At the time, Oladeru reportedly refused to sign his own letter, much less obtain it, and Igwe’s cell phone was allegedly taken by the security officers before it was only released to him after he had signed the letter.
On the other hand, Oladeru once more confirmed in a separate interview with Nigerian Tribune on Tuesday that he had in fact declined to pick up his own rustication letter because he had committed no offense that would have warranted his expulsion.
While they both remembered that the school’s security guards immediately let them leave the grounds with a warning not to return to campus as students, they noted that since then, which is now more than two months ago, none of them have entered the school.
They stated that they are still in disbelief that the school administration could act in such a harsh manner toward them without conducting thorough investigations into their alleged involvement in the incident.
They contend that if the school administration is sincere about not punishing them unfairly, two months should be sufficient time to complete an investigation.
Emphasizing that while they didn’t dispute that they advocated for a general student meeting to review the proposed tuition increase and that they were unaware of any purported communique calling for a protest, they didn’t deny making that suggestion.
They claim that neither a meeting nor a communique calling for a protest by students was held by the students’ union body.
Igwe continued by saying that the university has never had any issues with me. I have represented the school in numerous events and competitions from my 200-Level days to my final year, in addition to being one of the student union leaders.
“In light of this, the school is treating my fellow Oladeru and I unfairly. ”.
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