Thread by @mastermynd101, The Obafemi Awolowo University massacre was a series of shootings and murders [...]

The Obafemi Awolowo University massacre was a series of shootings and murders which took place against students of Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife, Nigeria on Saturday, July 10, 1999. It led to the deaths of 8 people and 11 injured, all of them students at OAU.

A thread

It was perpetrated by an organized death squad of 40 members of the Confraternity branch at the university. They invaded the Awolowo Hall of the university at around 4:30 A.M clad in black trousers and T-shirts, their faces hidden by masks; they made use of shotguns and hatchets

What led to the massacre?

"On Saturday, 7 March 1999, a group of members held a meeting in Ife town. After the meeting, they drove back to the campus. On the main road, Road 1, leading into the campus, they were overtaken by some students in another car.

For whatever reason, they were enraged and gave chase to the students. The students, seeing them in pursuit, raced hastily to the car park outside Angola Hall and ran into the adjacent Awolowo Hall for safety.

The Students’ Union, which had also received information that secret cult members were gathering in a house in the senior staff quarters, mobilised in response to the incident. Led by George Iwilade widely known as Africa, the Secretary-General, a group of them drove to the house

Officially occupied by Mr. F.M. Mekoma, and forced their way into the boys’ quarters. They found nine individuals inside, eight of them students of the University, with a submachine gun, a locally manufactured gun, an axe, a bayonet and the black clothing and regalia of the cult.

The University authorities were informed, and the members of the secret cult were handed over to the Police. They were held in police custody and taken to the Chief Magistrate’s Court where two weeks later they were granted bail."
The case was heard on 31 March.

And to the utmost amazement of everyone, the Chief Magistrate discharged and acquitted the arrested individuals. The students who had apprehended the cult members were not called as witnesses. The investigating police officer, Corporal Femi Adewoye amused everyone by saying-

He claimed that the witnesses could not be located and actually stated in Court, “I tried to contact the complainants in this case, all to no avail. To date, there is no complainant in the case. Since all the accused persons denied the allegations against them.

And there is no complainant, there is no way the allegations can be proved.”
This was the submission of the prosecuting police officer! Usually, in such cases, witness summons were served through the University Administration but this did not happen.

The trial was concluded in two court appearances in eight days.
The Chief Magistrate also ordered that the submachine gun be sent to the police armourer and the other exhibits be destroyed, thus eliminating all the evidence, and making it impossible to re-open the case

The massacre.

On the night of the 9th July 1999 a number of student groups held a party at Obafemi Awolowo University. The 'Mirror Online' reports: "members of Kegites Club on the campus, Man O’ war members, and various other student leaders- both former and incumbent.

All gathered at the open ground between Angola and Mozambique Halls." Later in the night many of the party-goers began occupying the cafeteria of Awolowo Hall whilst others returned to their halls of residence to sleep.
At between 3-3.30am (now 10th July 1999)

A large number of cultists (reported to be between 22 and 40) of the confraternity arrived to carry out a preplanned assault on the university with the intention of carrying out the assassinations of several prominent members of the student union.

Allegations that these assassinations were sponsored by the university's Vice Chancellor Wale Omole remain to this day but it is unclear if this is the case. It is said "one of the cultists, Kazeem Bello, aka Kato, confessed that Wale Omole had a hand in their July 10 operation.

Upon arriving at the university the cultists "drove through the main gate and proceeded to the car park next to the Tennis Courts in the Sports Center. They disembarked there and went on foot along a bush path to Awolowo Hall,

where they violently interrupted the gyration, firing guns and also wielding axes and cutlasses."
Although the order of the events that followed vary from account to account (in terms of who was killed in what order) it is clear that following the assault 4 people were left dead

another died from gunshot wounds later, one more survived from a gunshot wound and "Twenty-five others received minor injuries, which were sustained during the stampede out of the Awolowo Hall cafeteria and later on during the attack."

The Mirror Online reports "The victims, which included the then Students’ Union Secretary General, George Yemi Iwilade, (fondly called Afrika); 400 level medical student, Eviano Ekelemu; a graduating student, Yemi Ajiteru; 100-Level Philosophy student, Babatunde Oke,

and Ekpede Godfrey were gunned down by the “marauding beasts” in Blocks 5 and 8, Awolowo Hall." Prof. Roger Makanjuola writes: "Tunde Oke was still alive but died on the operating table. Four others, George Iwilade, Yemi Ajiteru, Efe Ekede and Eviano Ekelemu were brought in dead.

Eviano Ekelemu bled to death from gunshot wounds to the groin and thigh. The other three died from gunshot wounds to the head."
During the attack several accounts state the members were heard to be "shouting, “Legacy, come out!”"

Referring to the suspended Students’ Union President, Lanre Adeleke. Additional targets of the attacks are described also. Prof. Roger Makanjuola's account states the same and he also writes: "

"During the course of the incident, the attackers also shouted the names of “Afrika”, George Iwilade, and “Dexter”, the Chief of the Kegites, demanding that they come out."
Of the targets of the massacre Lanre Adeleke (Legacy) managed to escape by jumping from a balcony,

after hearing the gunfire. “Dexter”, the Chief of the Kegites, also escaped unharmed. George Iwilade (Afrika), the Secretary-General of the Students’ Union and a Law student was not so lucky. Upon entering his room the "shot him immediately in the head.

Then they smashed his head with their axe to make sure he was dead". It is reported George Iwilade (Afrika) was the only successfully assassinated victim. "Afrika, who was said to have carried out the arrest was mercilessly butchered while the other were just unfortunate victims"

Prof. Roger Makanjuola gives the order of events as been: "They first entered Room 184, where they shot and killed Efe Ekede, a Part II Psychology student. In Room 230, they shot Charles Ita, a Part II Law student. A group of the attackers then shot Yemi Ajiteru.

a Part II Religious Studies student, through the head in the corridor outside the Kegites’ headquarters. In Room 273, they found George Iwilade (Afrika), the Secretary-General of the Students’ Union and a Law student, and shot him through the head, along with another occupant,

Tunde Oke, a Part 1 student of Philosophy, who was shot in the abdomen. When the attackers got to Room 271,allocated to the suspended Students’ Union President, Lanre Adeleke (Legacy) they found that he had escaped. Legacy was in his room when he heard the first gun shots,

The band of thugs proceeded to Fajuyi Hall on foot, where they shot and killed one more student. That individual, Eviano Ekelemo, a medical student, was certainly not a student activist, but they shot him anyway.". However the order in which the victims were killed varies,,

Prof. Roger Makanjuola's account of the cultist's escape is"The murderers left Fajuyi Hall on foot and went through the bush path behind the Hall back to their vehicles.They drove to the Students’ Union building, which they ransacked.They returned to their vehicles and drove Out

of the University through the main gate. The security staff, having heard gunfire, fled for their lives. Thus the exit of the marauding thugs was unchallenged."

Aftermath

The day after the attack it is reported "President Adeleke presided over an assembly in the enormous amphitheater of Oduduwa Hall; he demanded the immediate resignation of Wole Omole, the loathed vice chancellor who impeded student efforts to eliminate cults

An award of 10,000 naira ($100 U.S.) was offered for Omole’s capture and hundreds of students occupied the administration building, refusing to leave until Omole was fired."
Prof. Roger Makanjuola writes of what followed the massacre:

"In the aftermath of the attack, the whole university was enveloped in fear and there was chaos in the halls of residence. However, within a short time, the President of the Students’ Union, Lanre Adeleke, was able to restore order and mobilise his colleagues.

The students went to the town searching for the perpetrators in locations where cult members were thought to be living. They “arrested” three individuals and brought them back to Awolowo Hall. These were Aisekhaghe Aikhile, a Part I student of Agricultural Economics, Emeka Ojuagu

and Frank Idahosa (Efosa). Efosa and Ojuagu were arrested in a public transport vehicle that was about to leave Ife.
The students exhibited black clothing, two berets and two T-shirts, that had been found in Ojuagu’s bag, which was claimed to be the uniform.

Efosa was a known member , He had been expelled from the Uniben and was later admitted for a diploma programme in Local Government Studies in Ife. The three of them were savagely beaten and tortured in the Awolowo Hall “Coffee Room”, the traditional venue for such events.

Efosa and Oguagu are said to have confessed to participating in the attacks during their “interrogation”, and Efosa is said to have gone further to state that the attack was organised to avenge the humiliating treatment of the members who had been arrested in Mr. Mekoma’s house

In the course of the interrogation, Aisekhaghe Aikhile died, and his body was taken to the hospital mortuary. The interrogations also yielded the information that 22 members were involved, six from the University, four from the University of Lagos,

4 fromUniversity of Ibadan, and eight from the University of Calabar. There was also a separate claim that more students from the University of Benin were also involved.

the VC was summoned to Abuja to give a report of the incident the day after he returned to campus. On 14 July, his suspension was announced by the Government."

Several days later on the 18th July 1999 Prof. Roger Makanjuola was appointed Vice Chacellor and as replacement to Professor Wale Omole. He promised the students of Obafemi Awolowo University he would do everything in his power to bring the perpetrators to justice.

Prof. Roger Makanjuola gives the following account of what followed: "A total of 12 individuals were arrested and charged to court over the three weeks following the murders, including Efosa and Ojuagu. Only one of those involved in the March episode was among those arrested.

The other eight could not be located. Two of them had obtained their transcripts and resumed their studies in France. The students brought information on the whereabouts of a major suspect, Babatunde Kazeem (Kato),

In mid-2002, the Judge hearing the case was transferred to Iwo, and the case along with it. To the amazement of everyone, the Judge upheld a “No Case” submission by the defence on 5 November 2002. The three accused persons were released and they subsequently disappeared…"

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