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By: Adebowale Akinjide
At
around 5pm on Friday, a large crowd of Zikites gathered in front of the
finalist block due to an incidence that had ensued between a 200 level and a
400 level Zikite. The incidence had started in an a-side football match that
was played on the Alumni Block lawn. A 200 level student and an alumni block
resident, Ayodele Joshua (Calculator) had reportedly punched a fellow Zikite, Greatness
Omomo (Vanessa) a 400 level student, in the face, due to a brawl that had
started between them during the match.
According
to eyewitnesses, Vanessa had called Ayodele to order on several occasions during
the game, warning him of his hard tackles. When he, Vanessa, complained for an
umpteenth time, Ayodele responded with a blow to his face.
While
the defense team tried to rescue the situation from further escalations, many
finalists were riled up by Ayodele’s behavior, requesting that Ayodele, who had
been locked away by the Finance Minister, (Mosope Ogunkeye), be released to the
public for proper “punishment”, as he had been locked up for several minutes to
shield him away from the supposed “punishment”.
De-escalating
the situation, the Hall Chairman, Adeniji Uthman (Yamburger), appealed to the
finalists, assuring them proper that measures will be put in place, and that
Ayodele would be duly punished for his conduct.
Eyewitnesses
also averred that Ayodele had had a similar brawl with another 400 level Zikite
a day before.
Reaching
out to Vanessa, he explained that the incidence did not just start on Friday,
it had readily been building up two weeks before the incidence. He explained
that he has had to medically treat his leg from an injury he had sustained from
Ayodele’s previous tackles. Vanessa explained that he is not unaware of
emotions and unintentional fouls that could happen while playing ball, but that
Ayodele had been unremorseful and had been exchanging words while he tried to
caution him.
He
also revealed that Ayodele has been of the same disposition to many elders
(finalists) in the hall.
“Most
of the people in that Alumni block are not in 300 level, they are not 200
level, most of them are finalists, and hin go just geh mind dey exchange words
with anybody”.
“I
didn’t exchange anything physical with him. I held him on his arm. I was just
trying to call him to order. The people there, if they knew I wanted to beat
him, they would have come to hold me immediately [...]. So, definitely, they
saw that I didn’t plan to beat him at all. The next thing as I held him, gba!
He hit me on my eyes”
“I think they said Mosope came to carry him from that Alumni, and carried him to the secretariat. That Mosope sef is very very stupid for doing that, and I can say it in front of him. […] Someone that you knew, you heard the story, you knew that he hit a finalist. Something that you yourself, you cannot do, something that me, when I was in 100 level, 200 level, 300 level, I could never ever think of doing that, of hitting a finalist. I can’t even exchange words with a finalist”
On
the other hand, the accused, Ayodele Calculator explained that he had
apologized for fouling Vanessa the first time he fouled him aggressively two
weeks ago, but Vanessa had held grudges against him despite his (Ayodele) remorsefulness.
When
the incident repeated again on Friday, Ayodele said he had apologized again.
“There
was this particular point I went to mark him, that’s Vanessa. He made his way
by dribbling me but I made an offensive attack from the back, and he went down. It
was like the same scenario that happened the first time. Then this time around,
I think he also had an injury in the process. So, I think it triggered him
again. Then the same thing like I did the first time, was apologizing. I was
even thinking that after apologizing I should leave the match”.
He
claimed that while he was tendering his apology, Vanessa was bent on
retaliating.
“During the point of trying to block his attacks, […] that’s when my hand made something on his face. I was shifting back, I was moving back, trying to go away from the scenario. His friends were trying to hold him, trying to calm him down, he still didn’t want to leave me or pardon me. […] I was frustrated, I won’t lie, cos I felt intimidated. I don’t feel justified about what I did but from nowhere, my reflex just took control. I just had to do something. Eventually, I did what I did. It’s not that I intentionally did it. I did what I had to do. That’s when I attacked him on the face”.
While
the hall chairman promised that proper measures would be taken, as of
press time, nothing has been done yet.
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