Akin Olaoye

@Borngreata22 The event was not cancelled. Venue was changed by the organizers. We also avoided the campus! In an active political season, most federal universities are typically sensitive. Let’s be honest with commentary!

@akintollgate If this happens then, what lead to the cancelation of this recent one.

This was a town hall held in 2023 for the LP candidate, Peter Obi in Ile-Ife Feb 17th, 2023.. The reception was warm, electric, and superb. Every seat was filled with young, brilliant minds from universities across the Ife axis. In the heat of the 2023 political season, I instructed the ground team that we would stay away from the OAU campus while seeking out venues, as we were fully aware of the university’s well-known stance on partisan politics. Local coordinators who facilitated the event planning like @realevabest and others can testify to this known stance . Any former student or alumnus of OAU needs no lecture on this reality. I requested the use of Kabiyesi Ooni’s OJAJA Hall and his office generously made it available to us at a modest amount, compared to its booking fee. This was southwest hospitality and political tolerance at its finest promoted by local leaders. Not a single incident of harassment at the epicenter of Yoruba land, where zero intimidation or push back against a gathering of Nigerians choosing a candidate of their choice, who was not locally popular occurred. I cannot vouch the same for other cities or states outside the region. After awaiting the candidate from Lagos for hours who couldn’t make it in due to weather challenges, we opted for a teleconference via zoom to continue the program. My previous post was a reminder that OAU Ife has a long-running history of remaining apolitical and treats political events with high sensitivity for those who may not be aware. A thankless endeavor, where the total cost of funding such political events out of pocket to promote a civic discourse in our evolving politics, is not common place. Today it’s heartbreaking to see many resorting to divisive rhetoric with claims of intolerance against a history of events that shows otherwise. Our politics has become excessively polarized, toxic and one bearing fangs of needless ethnic bickering, with many like myself, looking back in hindsight and wonder if it was worth any of it. Do your politics, but once again my dearest “OAU Ife cannot be Cancelled”. Prince Akin Olaoye - Ife North

@Henro211 A direct request to be blocked. ✌🏾

@akintollgate Chairman rest.

Seeing this just lifts my spirits. With the amount of talent spread across top innovative corporations around the world, seeing Nigerians do this locally is heart warming! Shout outs to Nathan Nwachukwu & Maxwell Maduka. Well done!!! 💪🏿💪🏿 🇳🇬🇳🇬🇳🇬🇳🇬🇳🇬🇳🇬🇳🇬🇳🇬🇳🇬🇳🇬🇳🇬🇳🇬🇳🇬🇳🇬

@shaywenjaydee Hoping to build a skyscraper at that junction someday!

@akintollgate Urban day!!!! That junction ehn,e get history pass some states.

You Cannot Cancel OAU! Nigerian President, General Ibrahim Babangida (IBB), paid a visit to the Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade Olubuse II, in Ile-Ife in 1990. I remember waking up early that morning to buy moi moi and eko from Mama Toriola at the Urban Day junction. We had traveled from Port Harcourt (PH) for a weekend trip to Ife, and the entire city was tense. Armored tanks and military vehicles lined the Ife-Ibadan road, with soldiers stationed at every major corner. Nigeria was already on edge due to frequent military coups and changes in leadership. Heads of state often left town amid rumors, and indeed, a coup attempt occurred shortly after this visit: the Gideon Orkar (sometimes spelled Okar) coup d’état attempt on April 22, 1990. The visit to Ile-Ife (then still part of the old Oyo State; Osun State was created in 1991) met resistance from the vibrant student “Aluta” community, particularly students from the University of Ibadan (UI) and especially Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU, then University of Ife), including figures like Adeola Soetan (“Comrade Show”). Soetan was close friends with one of our neighbor’s children, who would later become SUG president. My dad would visit from Port Harcourt with Shell calendars and diaries, which we distributed to many professors and senior staff in the Omole Estate OAU staff quarters. One day, while dropping these off, I overheard conversations involving Soetan when he visited friends in the BQ (Boys’ Quarters). He was outspoken, and this was during the heat of SUG elections on campus. Soetan was elected SUG President in April 1990. He later became well-known for spending about 13 years on a five-year program, largely due to expulsions and persecutions linked to his activism under then-Vice Chancellor Professor Wale Omole. I eventually met Soetan on campus in 1999, around the time he was finally allowed to graduate. The OAU community was renowned for its strong anti-government stance and opposition to the military junta. I had a cousin, Wole Olawuni, who debated late into the night with relatives about whether students would turn out in large numbers to boo the Head of State once news of the visit spread the night before. He planned to join roadside protesters near the Urban Day market, despite a curfew imposed by the Oyo State Military Governor. His mother and sisters warned him it would be a fool’s errand to defy the curfew. On the day of the visit, students showed up in huge numbers. Babangida proceeded to the palace amid pomp, parade, and boos from the students. This landmark visit helped solidify Oba Sijuwade’s throne as one of significant influence among traditional rulers during the Babangida era. A short while after the visit, Gideon Orkar and his co-conspirators launched their unsuccessful coup attempt against the President from Dodan Barracks in Ikoyi, Lagos. In the aftermath, OAU was not spared: there were arrests of lecturers and students. For instance, on May 2, 1990, two OAU staff members (Professor Omotoye Olorode & Dr. Idowu Apowetu) were arrested, with others declared wanted. They were later released but dismissed, amid broader crackdowns on perceived critics. This deepened anti-government sentiment. OAU, alongside UNILAG & others, became a hotspot for protests. The university’s influential alumni and global academic reputation helped it push back against retribution. Politics and politicians became somewhat avoided on campus as part of its cultural DNA, a deep-seated distrust of self-serving political actors. The tenure of Professor Roger Makanjuola as Vice-Chancellor during the early PDP civilian era further reinforced the OAUs cautious, relatively apolitical approach toward candidates, regardless of party. OAU is not an institution that can be easily cancelled or bullied by any political force, irrespective of recent or past events. It’s not called “OBA AWON UNIVERSITY” for nothing!

If you read commentary on twitter, you will think the entire country is politically intolerant. Too many dishonest people roaming these streets! Quite sad…Let’s get back to regular programming!

Happy Birthday Tunji. Wishing you more life & great health!

@Tunbolity @SirJarus That was an era …….😀😀😀

There was MM Elegbede Mohammed who was said to be notorious for calling for locking up the VC, Roger Makanjuola in dirty toilet. Any small thing, MM would say; "let's go and pick up the VC". When they regaled us with stories of those era and we would be like, mad men too full OAU that time

Burkina was the Students' Union president when I entered Ife in 2001. He was impeached few weeks after we got in. I remember that dramatic afternoon and the gbas gbos from Amphi Theater to SUB. Dr 3As had finished his tenure as president but was still in school as a medical student in my years in Ife. He became a statesman of sorts. Highly respected. Given mic to speak in most congresses. He wasn't in DSM (I think he was in Pace Setters) so he was less fiery but he spoke sense a lot of times.

I love joining twitter spaces after midnight, but it’s often filled with nonsensical political conversations where people repeat the same things over & over. Any accounts with mentally stimulating convos you can recommend ?

@cuppydat Search my TL. I post about OAU and Ife very often

@akintollgate But you spoke about OAU

Not joining the noise around the political parties candidate drama. Pure waste of energy! Just sitting back, waiting to see who emerges on all sides. Can’t comprehend how people dedicate their days to making enemies & endless squabbling. Muted certain keywords on my TL. FYI, I don’t see many stories that trend!

@greengizie I predicted any outcomes last year. When I hear the final outcomes I will revisit my tweets. I don’t comment on any current events!

@akintollgate Only the political survey know the predetermined end,, there is too much noise no Action in our political space & it’s as a result of joblessness & laziness, Politics should not be a means to an end but it is already..

@cuppydat What noise would that be ? Maybe look through my TL and see what my posts focuses on these days. Only paying attention to Osun Elections at the moment!

@akintollgate Uncle Akin how you come hear the noise of your muted the TL

@FeladesUnmixed At all oh

@akintollgate Bliss all the way Hope I'm not muted sha 🤗

@Shazamiste2222 Apologies oh! Write your own. 🙏🏾🙏🏾

@akintollgate “I remember waking up early that morning to buy moi moi and eko from Mama Toriola at the Urban Day junction” adding this to make the story funny is so cringe, u don old pass some kind things ooo

@Ekenefirst I call this main character syndrome. OAU Is the poster child of political resistance from the Academic to the student community. If you read my tweet, you would draw a reasonable conclusion.

@akintollgate "You cannot cancel OAU" is cleverly crafted to draw emotions from one region. That narrative never occurred anywhere. Even though the writeup took people down memory lane, the caption is not meant to be.

@OkechukwuOzor OAU does not bend to political pressure. Read my tweet again

Akin, no matter your affiliation, we must tell the truth for the sake of our democracy and the institutions being threatened by government. If OAU should not be a place that bends to political pressure, given its history of resistance, not submission, how do you explain inviting Peter Obi to an event and then canceling it on the day of the event?

@ntasamuel1 @lollypeezle If I insult you back, they will say I am mean. Ok oh!

@lollypeezle The guy needs rewiring. Talks too much for a guy.

This is the funniest thing I have read on Twitter in a long time 😂😂. Like, what is this write up for? How can anyone cancel a university? To what effect? “I woke up to buy moi moi” “I crossed Urban Junction”, like, what is the lesson? This egbon na elele 🙌🙌