Clash: Four policemen injured, five students arrested

Four policemen were injured and five students of the Federal College of Agriculture, Moor Plantation, Apata, Ibadan, Oyo State, were arrested, following a clash.

It was gathered that the four policemen were rushed to hospital. The arrest of the students and the present condition of the policemen were confirmed by the Oyo State Commissioner of Police, Abiodun Odude.

According to Odude, eight police vans were damaged in the clash.  

The students were calling for the removal of the Provost of the school, Dr. Babajide Adenekan, following a disagreement.

Members of the school’s Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics, Non Academic Staff Union and the Senior Staff Association of Universities, Teaching Hospitals, Research Institutes and Associated Institutions, trooped to the Ibadan-Abeokuta Road as early as 6.30 a.m., blocking the main road linking Oyo and Ogun states.

The protesting students forced many road users to take alternative routes to their destination, prompting the Rector to invite the police.

‎Odude disclosed that the police had arrested five students for their involvement in the clash. He also confirmed that there had been several meetings among the school authority, the students and the police on how to resolve the unending crisis in the school.

His words: “It has been an off and on situation. We have been on this in 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 a protest. We sent police there, but they became violent and attacked the policemen. Four policemen were injured and now in hospital. Eight police vans were destroyed too. We had to use force to push them back into the school. Just because you are a student doesn’t give you liberty to break the laws. Those arrested will be charged to court.”

A lecturer in the school, who pleaded anonymity, explained that the issue had been on for more than a year.

She said: “There had been a 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.”

The students, however, claimed that the police shot at them during the protest, with some of them sustaining gunshot injuries. They also alleged that a lecturer was injured in the crisis.