by Usman Alabi
Policemen shot at protesting students of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomosho, Oyo state, on Friday injuring three of them. Three students were also arrested.
The University has been on lock since June 2016 over controversy regarding ownership and funding between the two owner states, Oyo and Osun State.
There had also been rumours that the owner states were planning to increase the tuition fees.
On Friday, about 100 students took to the streets to protest against the six-month closure of the school and the rumoured increase in tuition fees.
While the protest was going on, policemen fired teargas at some of the students, while shooting rubber bullets at others.
The Punch newspaper reported that one of the injured students, Fawole Isreal, said he was shot at three times by the police while he was on a motorcycle.
According to him, “The protest was meant to be peaceful, but the police came and caused chaos, I was shot at three times. I fell down from a motorcycle. While I fell down, a policeman used the butt of his gun to hit me on the head. My head bled.
“We have been doing nothing for the past six months and this is not helping us. We are about to lose a full academic session. That was why we had to protest”
Abdulfatah, a member of the SUG who was also among the protesting students told the punch newspaper that the police arrested three students and injured three.
“Right now, we don’t know the whereabouts of those arrested. The injured ones have been taken to the hospital for treatment. The protest was meant to be peaceful, but the mobile police came and caused chaos. They started shooting at students. This is terrible,” he said.
The controversy of ownership and funding between the two owner States of Oyo and Osun is currently before the Supreme Court. But before the ruling next year, these students would continue to see themselves as pawns in the hands of these two states to score desperate and unnecessary political point.
How best do you think this controversy of ownership can be solved?