Stories From My Past: Student Unionism Was Fun

By John Okonkwo

Long before I became a quiet and withdrawn fellow, I used to be the exact opposite – a brash, forceful, fire-brand student unionist. And I can tell you that although student unionism was full of risks, it was fun.

It was fun when you consider the days of NANS Conventions. For the un-initiated, NANS is the acronym for National Association of Nigerian Students, the umbrella body for the ‘one million and one students of Nigerian origin’. The student body used to host its annual convention in any of the tertiary institutions in Nigeria. In my school days, I attended several of the conventions including the ones at Bayero University Kano (this particular convention took me to the house of Nigeria’s former maximum dictator, Late General Sanni Abacha, a full story for another day), Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Bauchi, Federal Polytechnic Damaturu, University of Lagos Akoka, University of Calabar, University of Benin, etc. The journey to each of these venues usually start at the dead of the night and lasted the whole night. There would be no sleep as we engaged in banters and melodious Aluta songs.

The good thing was that there was a song for every occasion. When we encountered policemen on the highway, there was a song for them:

          Every Junction Police Dey…..

          Eh hey Police Dey….

          Every Junction Police Dey….

          Eh hey Police Dey….

          Roger (bribe) Roger Roger….

          Roger Roger Roger Mi ooooo

          Every Junction Police Dey….

          Eh hey Police Dey…

Sometimes, the encounter with policemen became confrontational and they would bring out their guns to intimidate us. Even that act had a song for it:

          Police go shoot us…

          Army go give them order…

          Say make Tribunal jail us…

          If they like make them jail us forever…

          We must yarn… Amen

          We must yarn… Amen

          We must yarn… Amen

          Students we must yarn forever…

          We must yarn…Amen.

You would think that we were all rascals who would think nothing of God and prayers. No, we remembered to invoke the sprit of Aluta before we commenced our activities then. And there a song for such invocation:

          Wa Le Wa…

          Wa Le Wa oooo

          Eni Aluta aaaa

          Wa le Wa oooo

          Bia nu…

          Bia nu oooo

          Muo Nso Aluta aaaa

          Bia nu oooo

Elective conventions were as heated as Nigeria’s national elections. Fighting, display of guns, shooting, running and re-assembling again. They were never short in activities. And for those who attempted to cheat, there were songs for them:

          They must go, they must go…

          They must go, they must go…

          Buhari Toronto; Enwerem Bariga, Tinubu Chicago

          They must go, they must go.

In case you have forgotten, Buhari was the then Speaker of the House of Representatives who was removed from office for using a forged certificate of the University of Toronto; Enwerem was the then President of the Senate who was accused of forging his secondary school certificate at Bariga and Tinubu (yes, the same Tinubu) was the then Governor of Lagos who was accused of using a forged certificate of the University of Chicago.

Today, I look back at those days of student unionism and wonder if the fun was worth the risk. Your guess is as good as mine.

See you next month.