Adediran Luqman Adewale Wrote: July 10, 1999 Men of the Black Axe Confaternity stormed Obafemi Awolowo Hall of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile- Ife. At about 2am in the thick, dark, cold night, students had noticed strange movements within the campus. The students informed their Union leaders but it was not taken very seriously because the leaders were fatigued from the rally they had held the previous day. At about 4am, a death squad comprising of about 40 men, wearing black trousers and black shirts, struck. They had their ugly faces covered with masks and wielded short guns, matchetes and axes. They opened fire on ever- conscious Awo Boys. They headed for the block where the students Union Officials where resident. They smashed doors opened. They entered George Iwilade's room. George Iwilade was sleeping. They shot him and smashed his head with an axe to make sure he was dead. They killed 4 other student leaders. George Iwilade, a.k.a Afrika, was the 21 year old young, vibrant revolutionary and radical students' union Secretary General. He championed the causes of students. He fought against oppression and victimization of students by authorities. He fought against intimidation of students by cultists. While the cultists unleashed terror on Awo Boys, they were also in serious search for the President of the Union, Lanre, popularly known as Lagacy. They shouted, "Legacy, come out. Your life has been paid for." Legacy had escaped when he had gun shots. Some brave Awoites organized a resistance and then the cultists fled through the bush, leaving 5 students dead and about 11 injured. At daybreak, the students organised a congress, presided over by Lanre Legacy. They set up a students' militia who later arrested some of the cultists. One of the cultists arrested by students confessed to have be sponsored by Prof. Wale Omole, the then Vice-Chancellor... They were sponsored to silence the radical voices on campus. It's 15 years today since George Iwilade "Afrika" and others were silenced by OAUmanagent-spo nsored Black Axe men. It is worthy of note that this tactics of sponsoring cultists to silence student activists was not pecilar to OAU alone. In UI too, authorities- sponsored cultists once attacked Akeem Lawal, a.k.a Aluta who was stabbed almost to death along Elkanemi Road in UI many years back. Akeem Lawal was saved by students' resistance which made his attackers flee the scene of the incident. He was unconscious for many days at UCH and underwent a surgical operation to have his life saved. Today, we see these cultists in them, people in the authority who intimidate and oppress students with weapons of lies and media blackmail. We see the Black Axe, Vikings, Aye and other cultists' character in authorities who eagerly descend on and crush nonviolent students whose only weapon of warfare is truth and nonviolence. We see the cultists that killed George Iwilade and other OAU students in the University authorities who delight in demonic fees hike through outrageous acceptance fees, tuition fees, illegal levies, illegal sales of forms, extortion of admission seeking students and so on. We see the cultists in Male lecturers all over Nigerian institutions who harass and seek illicit affairs with female students through tactics of threats and intimidation. We see the dare-devil cultists in the Universities authorities who believe that education is cheap in a country where minimum wage is less than N18,000 and there is no certainty of employment upon graduation. We see these black axe cultists in the Universities authorities who say to poor Nigerians, "Go To Hell!" Today, we remember the fallen heroes of our struggles against all forms of injustices, intimidation and oppression on Nigerian campuses. May the souls of George Iwilade and others rest in perfect peace. May God give those who administer our universities wisdom to do so without spoiling their good names by oppressing the poor and less privileged. May God visit all those who have a hand in the death of Iwalade Afrika and others, and every other related deaths, with the natural law of Karma. May God continue to give victory to all genuine struggles on this soil. May those who fight, speak, march , struggle, advocate, work, for and serve the people in truth never be burnt whenever they are thrown into a burning furnace like the biblical Shedrach, Meshach and Abednego. Let all Nigerian Students say a resounding NO to cultism and oppression on our campuses. Let it be ZERO TOLERANCE to cultism on our campuses