wo Hall, as the popular Obafemi Awolowo Hall in Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife is called, is one hostel anybody who passed through the university will live to remember; whether he lived in it or not. This writer is not different. Ever since I graduated from the institution last year, reminiscing on my experiences in this hall of residence is one thing I relish.
When Awo Hall is mentioned in the OAU community and beyond, the first thing that comes to people’s mind is radicalism, although some unenlightened often take this as synonymous with rascality, which is not so. Awoites, as residents of this famous hall are called, are known to be radical minded and ready to go to any length to fight oppression and injustice. The hall has a tradition of radicalism.
With the aptly epithet "the political headquarters of Great Ife", Awo Hall has proved to be the training ground for activists who are today known throughout Nigeria. From Femi Falana to Lanre Arogundade, to Fred Agbaje, the list of ex-Awoites is endless. It is on record that Femi Falana started his activism in his days at Ife as the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Students Union in the 1980\81 session. Lanre Arogundade, ex-Lagos NUJ boss and frontline activist, in an interview in a newspaper sometime ago, dwelt extensively on his experience in Awo Hall in the early to mid-1980s.
During my stay in Awo Hall, Chief Alex Akinyele and the then Speaker of the Oyo State House of Assembly, Hon. Alarape, came to visit us in the hall at various times and could not hold back their joy as they extolled the hall’s virtues. The immediate past speakers of Oyo and Osun states Houses of Assembly are ex-Awoites.
It is not only in politics and human rights activism that Awo Hall products are making waves. In the business world ex-Awoites are also doing fine. The likes of Jimoh Ibrahim, businessman and former CEO, NICON Group; Segun Ajibola, Director, Intercontinental Bank; the late Ibrahim Dosunmu, ex-MD, Wema Bank Plc and several other company chiefs once lived in Awo Hall.
From the social to the political, to the economic, to the cultural, and even to the religious, Awo Hall is the hub of activities in OAU. Although Awoites are not known to be front benchers in classrooms, they are no poor performers, academically. A good number of ex-Awoites graduated as the best students in their classes. In my set alone, I know up to 10 First Class graduands who lived most, if not all of their undergraduate lives, in Awo Hall.
If anybody says social activities alone are what make Awo Hall tick, such a person is either ignorant or being economical with the truth. On the religious realm, Awo Hall is known to have the largest congregation of practicing Muslims that say their five daily prayers regularly and timely. Sermons in the hall’s mosque are always so powerful, touching and thought-provoking that the lives of many Muslim students in the hall and beyond, changed for good as a result of these admonitions. Although most of the Christian fellowships prefer Fajuyi Hall as their base, some of them are also based in Awo Hall.
Politically, Awoites are leaders. Aside from the fact that the official rooms of key students’ union officers are in the hall, the Students Representative Council (SRC) parliamentary sittings also take place there. Awo Hall also has a reputation for being the base of OAU’s militancy. Anytime the need for demonstration or protest arises, the aluta train takes off from the hall.
One word that apparently does not appear in the dictionary of Awoites is class. Virtually everybody is equal irrespective of age, level, family background and academic standing. Here is a place where you can hardly distinguish between the children of the rich and those of the poor.
Awoites have zero tolerance for oppression. Two students dare not fight each other in Awo Hall. If you steal another student’s property and you are caught, "Maximum Shishi" or "Ferefe Shishi", as the punishment systems in the hall are called, awaits you depending on the severity of your offence and the judgment of the congress of Awo boys. Cultists move near the hall to their peril. Awo boys are so courageous and fearless that they arrest cultists themselves, mete "maximum shishi" on them and hand them over to the school security. It was this cultism fighting reputation of Awo Hall that made the evil men mobilise and launch an external attack on the hall on July 10, 1999, killing the then Students’ Union PRO, George Iwilade a.k.a Africa, and four other students. Awoites have since put this unfortunate incident behind them and have not relented in their cultism fighting effort. Today, OAU is known to be the most cult-free university in Nigeria.
Enter the phenomenon "Aro". Aro is a term used to describe certain irrational, but deliberate behaviour or speech of a student so as to make other students laugh. This phenomenon is common in halls of residence throughout Nigerian higher institutions, but at no place is it wilder than at Awo Hall. In fact, the hall has been nicknamed Aro hall. Aro takes different forms. You see a student barking like a dog or crowing like a cock; you see a student eating beans from a bucket in an open place; you see a student enter the reading room and utter a statement like "Nigeria is playing (football match) and you are reading. You are not good Nigerians. Pack your books and go to the TV room". Understanding that he is only doing aro, the readers will just laugh it off and continue with their reading.
For indecently dressed female students, Awo Hall is not a place to pass, as Awo boys have songs they sing for them that make them feel ashamed of their dressing.
Although all these funny speeches and actions ease academic tensions and stress, Awo boys go to the extreme at times.
Traditionally, Awoites are great consumers of beans. Added together, at least one bag of beans sinks daily in the 356 rooms in Awo Hall, no wonder anytime a foul odour is perceived in classrooms Awo boys are pointed at as the "unleashers" of the odorous "missiles".
For all that passed through the University of Ife (and now OAU) in the last three decades, their experience in Awo Hall or in their interactions with Awoites will surely remain evergreen in their memoies. Awo Hall is, indeed, a great hall. Awo Hall, my Awo Hall, I miss you.
