INSIDE STORY: Pen Is Mightier Than Gun, Mujeeb Adebayo Reacts Over News Digest Publication

The environment of Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto (UDUS), was tranquillity in the early hours of Monday, 27th November 2023, English and Literary students were serenely receiving their lectures, until an article about a 300-level student politician was published. 

Image credit: Muheed's Facebook page 

At a gripping moment in the early hours on Monday, 27th November 2023, the main campus of Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto (UDUS), and social media platforms were in serenity, not until the tipping point of the day_ when the environment was shuttled with wrangle over an article published by the News Digest Press, titled "Baba English: Serial Power Seeker Faces Another Defeat," written about a Campus politician, a 300-level student of English and Literary Studies at UDUS, Abdullahi Mujeeb Adebayo.

Several press boards wrote counter opinions and the Students of English and Literary Studies wrangled with the members of the publishing board that the article being published about the student politician is a 'barrage of criticism' and 'derogatory article'.

The published article narrated how Mujeeb Adebayo seeks for power, faces defeats, and sees politics as a do-or-die affair.

Screenshot of the article before edition

The article, before the edition reads thus; “When we pursue but cannot catch up, we are akin to retreating,” goes the Yoruba adage, “tí abá léni tí áàbá báni àádèyì.” Abdullahi Mujeeb, an aspirant for the Deputy Senate President of the National Association of Kwara State Students, holds a contrary view. As the erstwhile Food Director in the dissolved 2023 Students Union Government, he sees politics as a do-or-die affair.

"But after a third trial, who will tell ‘Baba English’ to retreat? Perhaps, power is not for him at this stage. This is evident from the fact that he had enough chances to take a series of shots to the throne. However, after three misses, I presume he should cease. At least he had his flowers in the erstwhile Students Union administration.

"Away from the vituperative and bantered manifesto session, politics is math. I might not be a politician; but it has many calculations which must be done by heart and carefully. But where did Baba English go wrong? He should have figured out power is against him. Or perhaps, he is battling with the big boys. He should have long retreated since he lost in the ELSA ––English and Literary Studies Association –– presidential race. However, he went ahead in giving a third shot to the NAKSS DSP. But after trying and losing three times, who will tell English to resign to fate?

"A victory it was, at the very beginning. Emerging as the food director of the Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto Students’ Union, was no child's play. However, the center could not hold for him when he mounted that new pedestal. Dissolved. The administration was cutted off untimely by a foreseeable coup. The man of the moment ––in a jiffy–– became a common man again. Life happened.

"Mujeeb, seeking solace after his ELSA election defeat, returned to his roots in Kwara and entered the NAKSS arena, challenging Dasuki Ibrahim for the Deputy Senate presidential race. Despite his aspirations, the elusive victory remained out of Mujeeb's grasp, leaving him once again on the sidelines of power.

"But after this, what next?" The article read. 

'I felt disheartened and devastated; It's a slander, blackmailing, defamatory of character and political propaganda', Mujeeb Adebayo Reacts

In an interview with Gamji Press, the student politician, Mujeeb Adebayo narrated his plight after seeing the headline of the article published by the News Digest Press, "I felt disheartened and devastated after I saw the headline of the news," He told this Reporter.

Mujeeb further expressed his understanding of the article that it means he was been doing every possibility to make his way; "the word 'serial' in this context means that I have been doing every possible means to get power either legal or illegal, which I need evidence from him.

"What I have to say about this issue is that, it's a slander, blackmailing, defamatory of character and political propaganda plot by some parties. This can be seen in his statement 'bantered manifesto.'

"The claim he made that 'do or die,' I won SU election and I still serving PRO2 of Ilorin emirates students'union (Nhq) and is he found me with any illegal act after my loosen election (learn)," Mujeeb narrated.

By Ismaila Biliaminu Manne.

Biliaminu Manne is a final-year student of Public Administration and the immediate past Online Editor and Social Media Manager of the Gamji Press, UDUS. He is also a Freelance Campus Journalist of International and National Media outlets, and the current Assistant General Secretary of the NACJ, UDUS. He can be reached via email; biliaminuismaila2020@gmail.com