Lamintations of a Students of OAU

"Every generation, must out of its relative obscurity discover its mission, either to fulfill it or betray it" ~ Frantz Fanon.

One of my mentors in Christian Apologetics was instrumental in compelling me to read the work of the German Philosopher Fredrick Nietzsche(1844-1900), this was a brilliant young man who was born of a Christian family, both his father and mother were in the ministry, even his grandparents were in the ministry, but this young man at some point in his life decided to clinch his fist against God, he popularized the phrase, “God is Dead”, one of his notable work was titled “The Madman”, He said, “have you not heard of the mad man who lit a lantern in the bright morning hours, ran to the market place and cried incessantly, I am looking for God! I am looking for God!! As many of those who didn’t believe in God were standing together, laughed him to scorn with a considerable laughter, have you lost Him? Said one, did God lose His way? Said another, maybe He is hiding said another, is He afraid of us? Has He gone on a voyage? Asked another and the madman shouted and shouted and ran to their centre and pierced them with his glances, where is God? One of them answered and said,”I would tell you, we have killed Him, you and I, we are all His murderers, and how did we do this? How were we able to drink up the sea? Who gave us such a large sponge to wipe away the entire horizon? What did we do when we unchained this earth from its sun? Wither is it moving now? Wither are we moving now? Away from all suns maybe, are we not perpetually falling backwards, frontwards, and side wards in all directions? Is there any up or down left? Are we not strained through an infinite nothing? Do we not feel the breadth of empty space? Has it not suddenly become colder? Is not more and more nights coming on us all the time? Must not lantern have to be lit in the morning hours? Do we not hear anything yet of the sound of the grave diggers who are burying God? Do we not smell anything yet of God’s decomposition? God has decomposed too you know, He is dead, He remains dead and you and I have killed Him, now how would we the murderer of all murderers compose ourselves? Because that which was the holiest and mightiest of all that the world has possessed has bled to death under our knives, who would wipe this blood from us? With what water can we purify ourselves? What festivals of atonement? What sacred games would we need to invent? Is not this the greatest of deeds too great for us to handle? Must not now we ourselves have to become God so as to seem worthy of all we have done? There has never been a greater deed than this you know, and whoever is born after us for the sake of this deed shall be part of a higher history than all history hitherto” here the madman fell silent till again regarded his listeners, they too were silent and watched him in astonishment as he took his lantern preparing to go out, he said, “I come too early, maybe my time is not now””.

The recent happenings in OAU SU have not only confirmed my suspicion that when people refuse to do the needful, the needful ends up doing people, when the Director of social rejuvenated my love for wrestlemania in collaboration with the Vice President of the Union who happened to have given me a flash back at the agberos of Lagos state particularly in Ajegunle. It is not only a case of failed and unprincipled leadership, but it is also as a result of loss of purpose!!! Where our union? Where is the Union Afrika Died for? Where the Union Adeola Soetan was imprisoned for? Where is the Union that Engels was suspended for? Where is Union that fought for the dualization of a federal road? Where is the Union that fought fee hike? Where is the Union that scared cultist away? Where is the Union that gave Gani Fawehinmi Senior Advocate of the Masses? Where is the Union that stood gallantly against dictatorial managements? I would tell you, WE KILLED IT, You and I, we refused to vote in ideological people then those we voted in gave us Ideologies, we refused to be objective in dealing with issues hence those that dealt with issues made us the object of suffering, we refused to abhor intimidation by vice chancellors, hence the Chancellor of vices tormented us with health centre registration, we refused to learn of our history hence our history tormented us to this point, we refused to uphold the Great Ife constitution and it’s supremacy, hence the president started giving us health task force, we refused to allow B and F tell us how money should be spent, hence we started fighting over what 3.8 million naira should be used for.

While it is very painful that students are becoming colder by the day, the spirit of Aluta is dying gradually, we killed the consciousness that came automatically once admitted into OAU, we went on a voyage to seek early graduation and material possession, we lost our way there, and we lost ourselves there. As a student put it few days ago, “this set of leaders should be deleted from History”. I wish I was a part of another generation, I wish I wasn’t admitted in the regime of these political vegetables, I wish we didn’t have a boxer and bottle breaker in the CEC, I wish we didn’t have thieves who would call a meeting to share 3.8 million naira meant for 30,001 Great Ife Students, I wish we didn’t have a president who would tell the Vice where to find bottle for devilish acts, I wish we didn’t have a PRO who would lie at every slight provocation, someone who said we would have a press conference but said he didn’t say it again, someone who said he was coming to make announcements but said he didn’t say it again, I wish SIEWEN was there, I wish LAMBA ran away like the sport director, but it is too late now and the unthinkable is bound to happen.

BY: - AJOSE GIDEON
Is a student of Estate Management, OAU.