11th June, 2014
Abiodun Onafuye/Abeokuta
Students of Tai Solarin University of Education, TASUED, Ijagun in Odogbolu Local Government Area of Ogun State Wednesday continued their protest against the school management’s decision to prevent some of them from writing the ongoing examination.
The protesting students who were joined by other students from some tertiary institutions in the state this morning marched to the state secretariat at Oke Mosan, Abeokuta. They accused the school’s management of using soldiers attached to OP-MESA to brutalise them.
The protest which started yesterday was led by students who were yet to pay their tuition fees before the commencement of the examination.
A student, Comrade Hameed a.k.a. Stainless, who led the protest, disclosed that the SUG President, Comrade Sunday Ekeyopa, a.k.a Osas, was hit on the head with the butt of the gun while the PRO, Comrade Toyosola Amuludun, also had a big cut on his head.
Another student who did not want his name in print narrated the incident that led to the protest. “When we finished our paper yesterday, Edu 212- Philosophical Foundation in Education, we saw at least 200 students chanting protest songs. We ran for safety when we realized that the students were poised for a showdown with the school security officials. It was during the heated argument between them and the security men that many properties of the school were vandalised.
“All the louvres of Block A building, the Students’s Union Government’s building and the waterfall in front of the VC’s office were all destroyed by the aggrieved students. The situation made the management to invite the OP-MESA soldiers stationed at the campus P.M.NEWS gathered that the school’s management had shifted the examination twice to allow all students pay the fees before the school portal was finally closed but some of the students did not pay.
Speaking with our correspondent, the Chairman of the National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, Ogun State chapter, Comrade Okikiola Ogunshola, blamed the school’s management for escalating the crisis by inviting soldiers to the campus.
”We have been trying since yesterday to persuade the aggrieved students not to engage in violence. I want to confirm that no student was shot. The security men only shot into the air. We want the management to send these people away from the school. We don’t want them. They are not helping matters. I told the management that they should have engaged the State Security Service, SSS or even the police, rather than military men attached to OP-MESA. We are totally against this,” he stated.
As at the time of filing this report, students have been chased out of the school by the soldiers.
The ongoing examination has also been stopped pending the resoultion of the crisis.
When our correspondent contacted the state Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Barrister Olusegun Odubela over the protest, he said everything was being done to resolve the issue.
“We are working on resolving the crisis,” Odubela said.