I remember Nurudeen, Emmanuel Kabiawu and all the people that lost their lives, the rape victims and everyone that suffered any physical or psychological injury 15 years ago in the fight between the students and the vigilantes.
That day and year, I was still in JSS3 and we had witnessed the first Sharia riot and my family had escaped from Angwan Mu'azu to Kabala West after my Dad escaped death by a whisker. We were staying temporarily in a rented 2 room apartment, all 7 of us, my dad, 3 sisters and my 2 brothers. Mum wasn't in the country at the time. I heard our neighbours talking about an ongoing riot in Offa and how stubborn were the students and the vigilantes dealing with them. I remember the discussion but never thought I would ever go to the school. After all Law is not read in the polytechnic.
Time and chance happened. Six years later, I found myself in the Federal Polytechnic Offa and witnessed my 1st May 8 remembrance day where we sang several dirges and listened to accounts of what transpired that day, the remote and immediate cause of the riot by different former students who took part in the riots. The interesting part was how with no guns and matchets the students defended their territory and had to give in and ran for their lives when they started seeing their comrades' lifeless bodies on the floor and the vigilantes pelting them with iron stones from their opa iyonu and all the students had were just planks, bottles and stones they picked from the ground.
May 8 is one of the most important annual events celebrated in Fedpoffa. And the agenda is always similar. I attended all the May 8 events while in Fedpoffa and the activities were always the same. We would sing, rain curses on the vigilantes and all the people that supported them. Different speakers would come to the podium and speak about the incident. They would remind us of the heroes, villains and betrayers of the fight and at the end they would create in the new students a sort of phobia for the people of Offa. They would later get to know they have nothing to fear.
I left Fedpoffa 2010 and every year I would post some few words on May 8 and ask for the spirits of Kabiawu, Nurudeen and Emmanuel to continue haunt their killers. However, today, while I will still ask the spirits of our dead heroes to haunt their killers, I will ask their spirits to also haunt some students or pseudo-students who terrorise fellow students on campus.
I am particular about a group created in 2004 or 2005 to serve as the military harm of a political group. This group I learnt are now a 'strong' fraternity on campus cowardly parading themselves around and terrorising innocent and harmless students.
While on campus, we called them by their name and engaged them with all means available and put them in their place. Some of these people are my friends today and now know better. Some of them are doing well in the larger society and participating positively to the growth of the country in their own right. It is these few individuals who still have influence over this militant group I beseech to seek redemption from their past activities and see how they can make this group useful to themselves and the students community.
In the meantime, I pray that may the Spirits of all the dead heroes of justice seek everyone, hidden or known that tramples on the rights of the students of Fedpoffa and haunt him or her.
Happy justice day.
youtube.com niyirufai.blogspot.com Shina Orodele writes from Lagos, Nigeria. He's a graduate and an alumni of School of Communication and Liberal Studies, Federal Polytechnic Offa.
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