Assault over Respect in ABH: Uncomfortable Conversations

Cultures worldwide have their variation of Albert Einstein’s saying, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”. This specific saying was never Einstein’s, to begin with. It was Rita Mae Brown’s. Time has just not been favourable to her memory. 

In the same vein, time has — ironically — not been favourable to specific incidents in the University of Ibadan, with bullying and assault cases taking centre stage. Despite the University’s strict policies, students escape occasionally, safeguarded by the silence of victims and other students like them. It’s a campus-wide malaise. This has motivated some to act with impetus, thinking themselves exempt from the laws guiding all. Like with fifth-year Dental student Chimaobim ‘CJ’ Prince. 

On the evening of July 26th, 2024, around 8:20 PM to be exact, CJ allegedly slapped two 400-level Medical students, Oludele John and Olusanya Oluwakayode, in one of the rooms on the second floor of Block G, Alexander Brown Hall, over their ‘disrespecting’ him and amidst his vacating the room they were to move into.  According to John Oludele, the entire matter began a week earlier. “I went to do my clearance last week Wednesday. Prior to that time, my roommate [Kayode] already told me that he was going to meet with the current occupants to understand when they would vacate the room, given that the deadline [to vacate rooms] was on Sunday. He met CJ, who was the only person in the room. The guy [CJ] had already done a lot of decoration, put paint, wallpaper, and all that, and he made a proposal to my roommate concerning the room, which my roommate declined and told me about“, he said. 

He went on, “After my clearance, on Thursday, I saw that my room was G55. I decided to go to CJ to ask him what was going on. When I went there, CJ agreed that he would vacate the room this Friday, 26th of July. That was a one-week space that we gave him to vacate. I even explained that the occupants want me to vacate the current room I’m staying in, but I would negotiate with them for Friday. We agreed. The discussion was not even up to five minutes“. 

“I came back this morning to honour the agreement, but the room was locked. In the afternoon, I met someone else there, but I saw that he was already packing, so I collected his number from the person in the room. As I was leaving the room, I saw CJ coming back from class. I reminded him that tomorrow was Saturday and he should ‘Please’ because those guys I was staying with would chase me out. CJ did not respond to me at all. He left. When he came back, I told him what he did was not nice at all. He should have not ignored me like I was wrong. No matter what was going on, he should know I had tried for him. He did not say anything at all. Then, he left.“

Still narrating his ordeal, he said, “This evening, I was playing Chess. Kayode came to meet me and told me to go and check the room and see whether the guys [CJ] were diverging. We went to the room to check and saw that CJ was packing. That was when he saw me and said that the way I talked to him this afternoon, I should never try it again. That I don’t deserve his time. I said, ‘Fine, [I] might not deserve your time, but at the very least, I deserve your respect since I never disrespected you’ If you do something I don’t like, I have every right as gentlemen to tell you I don’t like it“. 

Here, things got heated. According to John and Kayode, they [CJ and John] both started arguing loudly with each other. CJ appeared enraged, moving towards John. Kayode moved to restrain his roommate when CJ slapped him and John, mentioning how he wasn’t their mate and “It was only because of school“. He continued threatening both of them, claiming that “he would stain them” until — and even while being — restrained by outsiders. This aspect was corroborated by multiple observers at the scene who mentioned that the threats kept up for a while. As more people converged to intervene, CJ ran from the scene. All efforts made by the Press to reach CJ for comments proved abortive (as of the time of publication). 

To the credit of the system in place within the Hall, the appropriate student leaders were immediately informed, and reports were made. However, this issue raises several, almost over-flogged, talking points. 

Too much has been said about seniority’s limits for it not to have registered. This privilege is not an excuse for misbehaviour. There have been one too many instances of individuals flexing muscles and speaking rudely to juniors over their rooms. For context, roughly a week ago, tensions flared concerning room vacation before the current fourth-year MBBS and BDS students (2k24) were to move into the hall. A number in the [2k24] class could not move in despite having cleared. This was due to the customary extra time given to the inducted class to clear out and also the fact that some rooms were occupied by their fifth and sixth-year counterparts; most of the former did not get spaces, and the latter, adjusting for their final year. It was an understandably difficult situation for both classes. Male members of the 500-Level class had to vacate into ‘God-knows-where’ less than two months before the dreaded second MB. And so diplomacy was expected. However, this ‘seniority’ blinded reasoning in some quarters. Imagine telling one’s supposed colleague, “You aren’t begging them, and you would stay if you wanted to”. It took the intervention of the ABH Executives to assuage parties and ensure a peaceful transition.  Comments to members of the Press and actions on the We Are Brownites group suggest the complicitness of some executives. 

As word spread yesterday evening, this trend reared its head, albeit in another form. Class members [2k24] were told they were ‘causing wàhálà over small issue’. Some were asked, ‘Why there was a need to escalate?’. It’s worrisome to think that, in the future, the lives of members of the public will rest in the hands of such questioners. The reward for bullying isn’t coddling. It’s a reprimand. No one should assault their counterparts and get away with it. If the cloak of ‘class-hood’ or ‘brotherhood’ is all that blinds us to such people, then we must burn that cloak and dump its ashes in Awba. 

This belief that camaraderie extends to all actions is dishonourable. That’s what it is: dishonourable. No amount of mental gymnastics would change that. The fact that episodes like these are the exception rather than the norm should be a clear pointer to those with such a twisted point of view. We must force ourselves to see reason. We will force ourselves to see reason. 

In all of this, the most challenging conversation is that of accommodation. The increasing difference in academic cycles between the main campus and the UCH-end has made accommodation — already a convoluted subject — even more complicated. Although the 400-Level MBBS and BDS class had the shortest ABH accommodation wait in three sets, the circumstances of timing with UI’s Halls of Residence still impacted heavily. The 500-level class will begin their second professional exams in two months — studying in new, disconcerting conditions. Power supply remains irregular. There was a power outage in ABH on the night [of 26th July] in question. Complete commendations go to the College of Medicine for their efforts in fundraising to build more hostel blocks and provide infrastructure. But the signs of weariness are showing. Many students do not have trust that they will ever partake of this. The accommodation cycle would have run its course in less than a year. And there’s no guarantee that the enforcement of room vacation would be smoother. 

Miss Rita Mae Brown would call this writer insane to think different results would emerge, especially on the issue of assaults, and with no plan of action. We prove her wrong by ensuring the law takes its entire course. Understanding and being diplomatic do not equate to idiocy. This goes for accommodation, as well. We understand the conditions of the Hall, and it begs that we also be understood and treated better. 

Dion