What does it take to stage a nightmare, a night when gunshots shattered the stillness of a university hostel, leaving five students dead and a nation reeling? On February 28, at the Wole Soyinka Theatre, Aluta, a play written by Toluwalope Ayeye and produced by The Lawliwood Society, University of Ibadan, dared to answer. Maybe you have heard about the story of the massacre. Or maybe not, like me 5 months ago. The play revisited the July 10, 1999, massacre at Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), where about 40 masked members of the Black Axe Confraternity stormed Awolowo Hall, killing George “Afrika” Iwilade and four others in a brutal reprisal against student activism.
The play unfolded in three acts, tracing the prelude, the attack, and its aftermath. It opened with a magnificent rendition of an Aluta song, where all members of the cast performed a piece that portrayed the tension and significance of the play to the student community. The stage was as down-to-earth as possible, yet it was well utilized. It featured the conference room for the management and students, a section of Awolowo Hall, particularly Legacy’s and Afrika’s rooms, and the Students’ Union Building.
The Prelude
The opening scene serves as a mental note of how hectic the SU elections were, and how the very defiant George Iwilade ‘Afrika’ and Lanre ‘Legacy’ Adeleke emerged victorious as General Secretary and President, respectively. The following scenes emphasized the ongoing tension over the recent increment of School Fees, and the heated meetings between the executives and the management, especially the Vice Chancellor. Comic relief was introduced, as a side tension between the PRO, played by a student of History and the Vice President of the Union.
Afrika confronting Policemen in Lagos
Multiple altercations and demonstrations played out, including one at Lagos, which the police ended after a face-off between Afrika and the policemen. A female narrator, also among the cast, did a very good job of conveying the other elements and information that could not be acted out to the audience. After the Lagos demonstration, the nation was aware of the situation at OAU and out of desperation the Vice Chancellor called for a meeting and agreed to the terms of the SU at the seating, just for her (played by a lady) to summon the cultists she had apparently been sponsoring to ‘take care’ of Afrika and Legacy. Meanwhile, Afrika and a group had previously apprehended the same set of cultists at the staff quarters and delivered them to the Police, all for the whole matter to be swept under the rug by the Court, and the cultists released to roam free in the University. So, for the cultists, it was a matter of revenge and fulfilling the Vice Chancellor’s wishes. The Narrator seemed to have quoted Wikipedia all through the closing scenes of Act 1.
The Attack and Aftermath
The stage was rearranged to expose the section of Awolowo Hall and a courtyard where the Kegites Club held their annual celebration and initiation. The Narrator was changed, now played by Lanre ‘Legacy’ Adeleke himself. The act was fast, and the attacks were quick, as the cultists gunned down a sleeping Afrika in his room and failed to find Legacy, who had escaped. A few other students were victims as four others ended up dead, including Afrika’s roommate. Legacy was innovative in his acting and narration, as the intended message was passed across to the audience. Shocking truths were also exposed in the aftermath, as it was found that the PRO and the Vice President were secret allies of the Vice Chancellor.
Kegites Gyration
The play ended on a tragic note, leaving the audience both sorry and angry. The script was well written, highlighting the major events, and the actors were natural. Each performer acted their role desirably, and the sound and stage compensated for the shortcomings. The costuming was also apt, effective for a ’90s-themed play. Afrika was always dressed in Ankara, even at official meetings with the management, symbolizing his defiance and penchant for activism. I personally commend the Faculty of Law for the overall production, even though they had help from the Department of Music.
Thematically, Aluta wrestles with justice denied and the price of courage. It honors the ‘OAU Five’ while indicting a system that freed suspects like Effiong Okon and let the Vice Chancellor retire unscathed. The play’s emotional peak, the massacre, left the nation hushed, and students silenced in the battle for student rights.
The contemporary resonance of Aluta is unmistakable when viewed against the current student union struggles at the University of Ibadan. In 2024, UI students, including Aduwo Ayodele, Mide Gbadegesin, and Nice Linus, staged a peaceful protest against a fee hike that saw tuition soar from ₦69,000 to as high as ₦412,000—a 453% to 750% increase. These students, dubbed the “UI3,” faced arrests, assaults, and suspensions, with Aduwo and Gbadegesin handed four-semester suspensions in July 2025 for holding placards reading “No To Fee Hike” during a Students’ Union event. The parallels to OAU’s 1999 tragedy are chilling and just as Afrika and his peers were targeted for challenging systemic issues, UI’s administration has been accused of using authoritarian tactics to suppress dissent, with the Central Students Disciplinary Committee acting as “judge, jury, and executioner” in a process criticized as lacking transparency. However, the response of the UI Students’ Union to this injustice has been a far cry from what was obtainable in Ife, serving as a marker of just how far from grace we have fallen. However, the spirit of Aluta, which imbues defiant and unyielding resistance, lives on in Nigerian students, but the repression they face underscores how little has changed in the systemic silencing of student activism, echoing the betrayal and injustice portrayed in the play.
Today, with cultism still plaguing Nigerian universities, the play’s relevance stings, though it stops short of asking how little has changed. Twenty-five years on, as we sit in 2025, the play reminds us: the clock may be broken, but the wounds still tick.