Human rights activist and former presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, has criticized the state of Nigerian universities following an incident at the University of Abuja, where he was reportedly prevented from addressing students during an event organized by the Students’ Union Government.
According to Sowore, he was invited by the Students’ Union Government, led by Comrade Yusuf Tobi Jamiu, for an interactive session with students. However, upon arrival from the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, he was informed that the university authorities had abruptly cancelled the program.
Despite assurances from the union president that the event would proceed, Sowore said he was stopped at the university gate by security officials, who told him that the management had declared his visit “unacceptable.”
In a post titled “The University as a Joke: My University of Abuja Experience,” Sowore recounted how he sat outside the gate in silent protest after being denied entry. During the wait, he witnessed campus security preventing a female student from entering the university for “improper dressing.”
“I asked if the university bought clothes for its students,” Sowore said, adding that the security personnel only allowed her in after sensing public attention.
He also expressed disappointment in the Students’ Union leadership, questioning whether they were truly representing students or serving the interests of the school authorities.
“What I saw at the University of Abuja was not an institution of learning, but a graveyard of courage and ideas,” Sowore wrote. “Our universities are dying not for lack of resources, but for lack of integrity, independence, and freedom.”
He concluded by lamenting that Nigerian universities have lost their soul, saying, “Nigerian universities are dead. What remains is the struggle to resurrect them.”
