The Alliance of Nigerian Students Against Neo-Liberal Attacks (ANSA) has issued a searing condemnation of what it described as an ongoing campaign of repression and persecution against student activists at the University of Ibadan.
In a press statement released on June 30th, 2025, the student-led movement decried the latest disciplinary summons issued to Comrade Ayodele Aduwo and Olamide Iyanuoluwa Gbadegesin, calling it a sham and a blatant attack on democratic rights.
The statement references an internal memorandum dated June 25, 2025, in which the University administration invited the two students to appear before the Student Disciplinary Committee over allegations of “insubordination” and “unruly behaviour” during the Students’ Union swearing-in ceremony earlier in May.
ANSA insists that this so-called disciplinary process is nothing more than a witch-hunt designed to punish the students for protesting rising education costs and resisting the erosion of democratic student leadership.
“This witch-hunt, disguised as a disciplinary process, is nothing but a desperate attempt to silence student dissent, criminalise freedom of expression, and clamp down on the constitutional right of students to resist imposed authorities and anti-student policies,” the statement reads in part.
The group describes the University’s actions as shameful, backward, and fundamentally incompatible with the values a 21st-century academic institution should uphold.
According to ANSA, what is truly “unruly” is the ongoing commercialisation of education, the imposition of undemocratic leadership, and the use of brute force and intimidation to suppress dissent.
“It is shameful and unacceptable that in 2025, university authorities are still resorting to archaic disciplinary panels to stifle students’ voices,” said Joshua Temitope Oladepo, ANSA’s National Coordinator.
The group called for the immediate withdrawal of all disciplinary actions against the embattled students, describing their protest as a patriotic and legitimate defence of justice on campus. ANSA also urged civil society, students across Nigeria, and progressive forces to stand in solidarity with the affected comrades and confront what it calls a growing wave of authoritarianism in Nigerian higher institutions.
“We will not sit idle while university administrations collaborate with oppressive state forces to crush dissent,” Oladepo declared. “An injury to one is an injury to all. The struggle continues.”
