The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
‘Protest concert’ to fight student’s deportation
Outcry after cancellation of blind man’s studies by Dundee University
A blind Nigerian student on the verge of being kicked out of the UK is to “sing for liberation”.
Bamidele Chika Agbakuribe, who lives in the city with his wife and four school-age children, will perform in a “protest concert” being organised in Dundee.
New Zealand folk singer Paul Brown, who is originally from Dundee, will travel to Scotland to perform alongside Mr Agbakuribe to “combine radical traditions of Scotland and Nigeria” and “sing songs of resistance and liberation”.
The gig in the upstairs room of Dil’Se on Perth Road on May 30 is being held under the banner “Shame to Fame: Songs for Liberation” as part of the Defend Bamidele Cheka Agbakuribe Campaign.
A public petition accused Dundee University of “disability and racial discrimination” after it terminated Mr Agbakuribe’s PhD studies following slow academic progress.
He lodged a complaint which was investigated by the university but not upheld, so Mr Agbakuribe must leave the UK.
Mr Brown, who was the first blind student at Dundee University, said: “He has given up everything to study here, including selling his house. Now, he and his family face having to return to Nigeria with nothing and no qualification to show for it.”
A spokesman for Dundee University said it was satisfied that the decision to terminate Mr Agbakuribe’s studies was made solely on the basis of a lack of academic progress against a background of extensive and dedicated support.