NO fewer than four policemen have been hospitalized after being injured during a clash between the police and students of the Federal College of Agriculture, Moor Plantation, Apata Ibadan, on Monday, the Oyo State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Abiodun Odude disclosed.
The commissioner also added that eight police vans were damaged in the clash. It was gathered that the students occupied the Ibadan-Abeokuta road as early as 6:30 am, blocking the main road linking Oyo and Ogun states, with road users stranded as both commercial and private vehicles were forced to take alternative routes to their destination. The Provost, as learnt invited the police when the students blocked the main road.
It was gathered that the students were protesting against the school management, while specifically calling for the removal of the Provost of the school, Dr. Babajide Adenekan, following the disagreement between Adenekan and members of the school’s Academic Staff Union of Polytechnic, Non Academic Staff Union and the Senior Staff Association of Universities, Teaching Hospitals, Research Institutes and Associated Institutions.
The issue had been on for more than one year, a lecturer in the school who confided in journalists revealed
In her words, “there has been clash between the provost and lecturers of the school. Some lecturers have been suspended and reinstated while some claimed their allowances were withheld by the provost illegally. The claims are many.
“But this time, the students were expressing their grievances over the administrative style of the provost. They are claiming that the style of the provost triggered several strikes and unnecessary delay in the school’s academic calendar. They are also calling for the removal of the provost.”
According to the students, the police shot at them during the protest with some of them sustaining gunshot injuries. They also added that a lecturer was injured in the clash.
The police had arrested five students for their involvement in the fracas, just as Odude confirmed that there had been several meetings between the school authority, the students and the police on how to resolve the unending crisis in the school.
“It has been an off and on situation. We have been on this for the past six months meeting them and trying to resolve the issue. We have met the students’ union leaders and the school authority.
“We told the students that they should limit their union activities within the school because once you deprive others the use of public facility, you are against the law. Today (Monday), they blocked the main road during protest and we sent police there but they became violent and attacked the policemen.
“Four of them were injured and they are now in hospital. Eight police vans were destroyed too. We have to use force to push them back into the school. If you are students, it does not give you the liberty to break laws. Those who were arrested will be charged to court after due investigation”, the commissioner submitted.
