By Adeyeye Eyitayo
There is no doubt about the uniqueness of Great Ife and part of this uniqueness is that there are some conventional happenings peculiar to Great Ife students which one may not come across in other varsities.
The university is in her fifth week of academic standstill owing to the annual sabbatical leave embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union amid the sessional break.
It is just certain that Great Ife students who have been on recess for over a month now would have missed a couple of happenings they experience on daily basis while on campus.
Below are some of those happenings:
1.BUS DRIVER PALAVA
"WOLE PELU CHANGE EMI O NI #20 CHANGE O" i. e., “enter with your N20 note I don't have change”.
For those who stay off campus, I believe they would have missed this daily chant by shuttle bus drivers on campus. Great Ife students would bear me witness on how frustrating it can be when you are already late for a morning class and on getting to the car park you encountered your "Sodom and Gomorrah" who says you will not go for that class unless you have a #20 note.
As much as you try to meet up with the class by trying other buses if the driver would have "change”, you get ejected and disqualified for not having #20 with you in the other buses too.
Trust me it can be so annoying!
Also, after having a long and busy day in class and all that you could think of is to get to your apartment and retire for the day. You get to the car park again just to discover that you have N20 war to fight again. This time around it may be so brutal because you might be under the unfriendly sun for couple of minutes trying to figure out a way out.
Those who stay off campus would agree with me that N20 note is a must-have else, one would be grounded at the park irrespective of the thousands you have with you.
2.PASSPORT PHOTOGRAPHERS
As if that's all about the struggle, on getting to campus, the struggle continues again. Most people who usually alight at the first bus stop will testify to the fact that passing through the “motion ground area” can be disturbing, be it in the morning or any hour of the day.
Here at the “motion ground”, there are hordes of passport photographers who take the job as their means of survival. Probably, this is why the competition is so stiff such that, mere sighting you from afar, the photographers will start shouting "bros passport"; "passport bros"; "sister passport wa o" (all meaning – “take ur passports here”).
Even when you are in your worst attire, they will still beckon on to you, then you will begin to ask within you, if I'm to take passport, will it be with what I'm putting on?
These mobile photographers are known for the habit of seeing you off as you journey through motion ground.
3. PHOTOCOPY MERCHANTS
You thought the struggle is over?
Smiles, the struggle still continues.
Just immediately you traverse from motion ground, climbing the stairs, before you is a swarm of photocopy merchantmen rendering their business chants at you as if you are all they have got for that day. Your case becomes complicated perhaps you hold an A4 paper.
Their "business incantation" goes like this: "bros shey photocopy ni" "sister photocopy" (meaning – “do you want to make photocopies, sister, is that paper for photocopying?”)
This set of people are so unique because you get to see them all over the academics area and halls of residence inclusive. You may not escape them in a day.
4. WHEN TWO OR THREE ARE GATHERED
A non-OAU student would imply that when two or three are gathered, God is there.
Well, in the case of Great Ife students especially those who stay in halls of residence it may mean another thing to them.
Whenever you see two or three people gathered, just know that an intellectual argument has engulfed.
5.THE FEAR OF PASSING THROUGH AWO HALL
The fear of passing through Obafemi Awolowo Hall (Awo Hall) is the beginning of wisdom for the female folks.
Most female students usually get scared of entering or passing through Awo Hall as a shortcut that links to other strategic places such as Fajuyi Hall and New market. This is not because carnivorous animals are there to eat them up but because of "Aro" which they may fall a victim of. "ARO" is simply an act of making someone a laughingstock.
To see a lady pass through Awo hall, most especially during evening time, is usually the best time for Awo hall guys and a time for comic relief after a busy day.
I'm sure after that evening, such a lady would make an eternal vow not to pass through Awo Hall again. The aroic Awo guys would have missed this wonderful experience.
6.SPORT COMPLEXISM
“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places"
I’m very sure this has been the driving force behind so many Christian brothers and sisters on OAU campus.
Non OAU student must be very careful if their friends tell them they went to the sport complex because it doesn't mean they went to do sport.
As against its natural usage, the sport complex has been turned to a spiritual battle field. You dare not go there and "do rubbish" else, the fire of the Holy Ghost might roast you.
Most students that patronizes of the complex do not even go there for sport but for spiritual warfare. On a typical Friday afternoon, you will notice thousands of Muslim brothers and sisters journeying through the sport complex to religious ground to have their Jumat at the University's mosque.
Then you would wonder if those who claimed OAU is the most religious varsity in Nigeria made no mistake at all.
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