How OAU Students Disrupted Wike’s Speech In Ile-Ife, Saying; “We Don’t Want You”

It was drama of the absurd on Thursday, June 5, 2025, at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State, when some students staged a protest during the visit of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr Nyesom Wike, to their campus to deliver a Personality Lecture.

Wike, was invited by the authorities of the tertiary institution to deliver the Lecture at the university’s Oduduwa Hall, on the topic, “Nigeria of Our Dreams”.
However, at the event, two students, namely; Oladepo Joshua and Ejike Kelechi staged a protest inside the hall, displaying placards and demanded compensation for victims of recent demolitions in the FCT.

Expectedly, their demonstration briefly interrupted Wike’s lecture and caused a stir before security personnel moved in and escorted the students out.
An eyewitness told Forefront News on telephone that but for the quick intervention of the security men, the situation could have turned chaotic as some other students got infuriated and expressed anger toward the protesters.
A student, who simply himself as Mike, said the whereabouts of the two students is presently unknown. They made their points just that they did not mobilise other students to join them earlier. If they had done so, the situation would have been bad enough.

“They were in Oduduwa Hall for the event Wike came for. I’m just getting to Floor 0. They were taken there along with security details attached to Wike. They wanted to take them away, but security operatives appealed to Wike’s security officials not to since it was an internal affair of the institution”.
Speaking on the development, Abiodun Olarewaju, Public Relations Officer of OAU, dismissed claims that the students were arrested, saying that they were only removed from the venue for their personal safety.
Olarewaju said; “Everybody has a right to protest, but microscopic minorities, should not disrupt what the overwhelming majority allowed.
“They were not arrested, but were only escorted out of Oduduwa Hall. We didn’t want the situation to escalate, especially since some of their colleagues were even accosting them. When about 20 students descended on two students, something could have happened. So, security operatives just took the two students out of the hall,” he said.
However, some student groups on the aegis of ‘Alliance of Nigerian Students Against Neoliberal Attacks (ANSA)’ and Education Rights Campaign (ERC), have condemned in strong terms, what they described as the “arrest” of the protesters and demanded their immediate and unconditional release.
A statement by Ikechukwu John, Deputy National Coordinator of ANSA, urged the Nigerian public, the Great Ife Students’ Union, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), other progressive unions, civil society groups, the media, and all defenders of justice to rise in condemnation of the repression.

In its own statement by Michael Adaramoye, National Mobilization Officer of the Education Rights Campaign (ERC), criticized the incident, stressing that the removal of the student activists was unacceptable and highlights the authoritarian climate on campuses.

On its own part, the Students’ Union’s spokesperson, Daniel Aka, said that the organisation was still gathering details on the event since it was not officially part of the event.