Scores Injured As Police Clashed With Students In Oyo.

On Monday, the State of Oyo was turned upside down after students and policemen gave way to violence that has reportedly left four policemen hospitalized.

The students of Federal College of Agriculture, Moor Plantation, in Apata, Ibadan had taken to the main road to protest against the school’s administration and demanded for the immediate removal of the provost, Dr. Babajide Adenekan. In typical style, they blocked the main road as a means to show their grievance, forcing motorists to take various detours and the police were alerted.

Policemen arrived at the scene in vans and tried to clear the way that linked Oyo and Ogun State but the students fought back.

Although reports are still shady, the Oyo State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Abiodun Odude reported that:

“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 issues. We have met the students’ union leaders and the school authorities,” he said about the incidents leading to the crisis.

He however was not taking the matter lightly as he revealed he had once advised the students regarding this sort of action, he said:

“We told the students that they should limit their activities within the school because once you deprive others the use of a public facility, you are against the law. Today (Monday), they blocked the main road during their protest and we sent some policemen there. But they became violent and attacked the policemen. Four policemen were injured and they are now in the hospital. Eight police vans were damaged too. We had to use force to push them back into the school. That you are a student does not give you the liberty to break laws. Those who were arrested will be charged to court at the end of investigations.”

Reports from students also claimed that the police had shot at the protesting students unprovoked and that the violence started after they had injured a colleague.

A lecturer who did not give her name also commented that the unsettled atmosphere in the school had been on for a long time as the provost had been on a collision course with both the academic and non-academic staffs, withholding salaries illegally and sacking others. She claimed that the protest was because the actions of the provost was crippling academic activities within the school and the students were protesting for his removal to enable them resume normal activities.