ACCOMMODATION: STOP THIS VICTIMIZATION
Many may think that the end has come to issues pertaining to accommodation throes. But the truth remains that the end is yet to come to many problems that accommodation challenges have thrown up. The attention of the Editorial team of SOCIOSCOPE was caught by the fact that many innocent students are, at the moment, suffering because some people somewhere are doing either nothing or the wrong thing.
If you are attuned with the incidents on campus, you would remember that some weeks ago, a list that containing the names of some students who were alleged to have been involved in (illegal) sale of bed spaces was released. From reports that have been gathered so far from reliable sources, some (if not most) of the names of some students on that list are names of people who are innocent. Despite their innocence, they have been made to go through unprecedented problems. According to reports that reached SOCIOSCOPE from very reliable sources, some Akintola Hall executives were fingered as those responsible for putting many students in a precarious situation they are not supposed to be in.
Everyone on OAU campus knows that Akintola (Sports) hall has the least number of buildings—just four buildings. This being the case, one cannot but wonder why the hostel recorded the highest number of ‘victims’—51 victims. According to pity-inspiring narrations by some finalists that were allocated Akintola Hall whose spaces are under the threat of being withdrawn by the school management, the executive of the hall acted very irresponsibly. The Sports hall chairperson, Oyelami Fatimah (TIIMAH), was said to have led the onslaught. The hall chair, in the company of one of the porters, went around in the afternoon, at around one thirty with the intent of ‘catching’ those who had sold or bought bed spaces. But to the amazement of many, the chairperson was said to have written “Absent” in front of the names of those who she did not meet in the room. However, as time later on revealed, those whose names were marked absent also appeared among the names of supposed offenders. As far as this is concerned, one may find it difficult to blame anyone, the school management that released the list, or the hall chairperson that could not differentiate the names of those that sold or bought spaces from the names of those who she marked “Absent”.
SOCIOSCOPE wishes to pass this message to the appropriate quarters—to whoever it may concern. It is high time we stopped punishing innocent students. Inasmuch as one may applaud the efforts of the school authority to separate ‘the weed from the shaft’, the innocent must not suffer with the ‘guilty’. The executives of Akintola Hall is hereby called upon to ensure that the innocent do not suffer with the ‘guilty.’
Olofinlua Oyindamola
Editor-in-chief
