From Unionism to Authoritarianism: The Alarming Power Drift of Comr. Jamiu Tobi

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." – George Santayana

In the sacred corridors of student unionism where aluta voices should echo loudest, Comrade Jamiu Tobi, the current Students' Union Government (SUG) President of Yakubu Gowon University, has chosen instead to silence that aluta voice—not with persuasion, not with progress, but with raw unconstitutional force.

In what many are already calling a "dead-on-arrival decree," Comr. Tobi has unilaterally and unconstitutionally suspended two democratically elected executives—the Director of Welfare and Director of Transport—at the most critical time of the academic calendar: examination season. If this is not executive recklessness, then it is a close cousin of it.

According to the Yakubu Gowon University SUG Constitution, Article Six, Section Four, nowhere is the President given power to suspend elected officers. His powers are well defined—coordinate, preside, represent, not rule. The suspension, therefore, is null, void, and a naked abuse of power.

But there's more, my capacity aluta voice

When a student leader starts prioritizing his appointed course representative—whom he now calls Chief of Staff—over elected union officers, and even mandates that Executive Council members pass through this Chief of Staff before accessing him, the comparison to Adolf Hitler’s inner-circle authoritarianism becomes unfortunately fitting.

Like Hitler who sidelined democratic structures to promote loyalty over merit, Comr. Tobi has created a bizarre organogram that equates appointed aides with elected leaders, effectively muzzling the voices of the student body. This is reminiscent of the Nazi playbook, where command structure was designed not for service, but control.

Let me remind Comr. Tobi of recent history. In September 2023, Rivers State Governor Simi Fubara unlawfully suspended an elected official and later attempted to paralyze the legislative arm of his state. His actions birthed constitutional backlash, political isolation, and today, the ruins of that decision still haunt the Rivers political space.

Back then, I offered candid advice to Governor Fubara in my publication to temper his ego with wisdom. Today, I offer the same to Comr. Jamiu Tobi:

"Power is safest when it is restrained by principle, not inflated by ego."

Let us be unequivocal: prioritizing an unelected Chief of Staff over two constitutionally elected officers, and removing them from official channels, is an impeachable offense under every democratic lens.

To suspend Welfare and Transport heads at a time when students need them most—during examinations—is not just tone-deaf, it is gross dereliction of student duty. Transport logistics and welfare are not political tokens, they are student rights.

To add insult to injury, the President has bypassed the constitutionally elected Director of Information and now issues press statements through an unnamed aide—a person the students did not elect, did not vet, and whose background, intentions, and criminal record (or lack thereof) remain unknown. This undermines transparency, accountability, and student media freedom.

The UNIABUJA SUG Senate must not fold its arms. The constitution gives them power to check executive excesses through a 2/3 majority. That time is now. Every delay emboldens authoritarianism.

“When tyranny becomes law, resistance becomes duty.” – Thomas Jefferson

Comr. Tobi, you once walked the legislative path in the 7th, 8th, and 9th Assemblies. You understand history. So why choose to ignore it?

As I said to Simi Fubara, I now say to you:

"Every leader is remembered either as a builder or a breaker. Choose wisely, for history forgets neither."

It is not too late. Unite the house. Repeal the illegal suspensions. Restore dignity to the union. And remember: students elected you to serve, not to reign.