Eight Resign Over Abuse of Blind Ghanaian Student at Oxford University

Last updated on September 11th, 2021 at 03:13 pm

The only black member of the Oxford Union – a prestigious British debating society with high-profile politicians among its alumni – has resigned following the abuse of a blind Ghanaian student Ebenezer Azamati.

The 25-year-old Ghanaian was dragged by the ankles out of a hall where a debate was about taking place. The incident has brought Oxford Union under pressure provoking a wave of resignations from the society as videos have spread online showing the student struggling with a security guard who forcefully tried to pry him off a bench.

On Monday evening, Jeremy Bararia, the only black member of the union’s governing body, stepped down and joined calls for the resignation of the society’s president, who at first accused Mr. Azamati of violent misconduct before dropping his complaint and apologizing weeks later.

“Coming to Oxford, I had been warned that the union was an elitist institution, nothing more than a playground for privately educated, power-hungry people who held little, if any regard for ordinary members,” Mr. Bararia wrote in a letter to the society’s president, Brendan McGrath, which has been sighted by DailyMailGH.