Following the attack on the convoy of the First Lady of Ekiti State, Erelu Bisi Fayemi by protesting students of Federal University, Oye Ekiti(FUOYE) on Tuesday, the authorities of the Federal University has closed down the school indefinitely.
In a statement signed by the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof.
Kayode Soremekun on Wednesday, the management also proscribed the
students’ union government in the institution, henceforth.
Students of the university had on Tuesday held a violent protest to
demand for the restoration of electricity to the two campuses in Oye and
Ikole, where cars on the convoy of the First lady, who was on a local
government tour were destroyed and many sustained bodily injuries in the
process.
He said, “We hereby announce the immediate and indefinite closure of
the university to forestall further breakdown of law and order.
“In the same vein, the students’ union of the institution is disbanded indefinitely.
“Following this closure, the students population are hereby ordered
to vacate the university premises no later than 10 am tomorrow 11th
September 2019.
“Further developments will be communicated in due course”.
The Government of Ekiti State in a statement by the Information
Commissioner, Mr. Muyiwa Olumilua, confirmed the attack on Mrs Fayemi.
Olumilua acknowledged that the protest might have started as a
peaceful one, adding that there was an escalation to violence, possibly
due to infiltration by hoodlums.
“The convoy of the Wife of the Governor was attacked with several
vehicles vandalised, leaving many people, including journalists, with
varying degrees of injuries.
“While not denying the students the right to express their grievances
on any issue, it is expected that such be done without resulting to
violence.
“As a responsible government, it is on record that the State
Government has been engaging the electricity company (BEDC) on how to
improve the power situation in parts of the State, long before this
unfortunate incident, and promise to continue to engage them on the
improvement of their service delivery to Ekiti State.
“The general public is hereby advised to go about their normal activities as the situation is now under control”, he said.
However, some journalists ; Folorunso Adebiyi of Federal Radio
Corporation of Nigeria, Olasunkami Ogunmuko of CORE TV, Raphael
Ogbonnaiye of Daily Trust, Ayodele Afolabi of The Guardian, Adedayo
Oladele of New Nigerian and other journalists on the first lady’s
entourage narrowly escaped being killed during the attacks while some
sustained varying degrees of injuries.
The Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Ekiti chapter,
Rotimi Ojomoyela, condemned the calculated attacks on his members,
urging security agencies to fish out the perpetrators.
Recounting how the incident happened, a journalist with Core
Television station in Lagos, Sunkanmi Ogunmuko, said Mrs Fayemi was
already conducting the empowerment programme at the civic centre in Oye
Ekiti when the incident occurred.
Ogunmuko said the came on their hundreds from both Oye and Ikole
campuses and started destroying vehicles with sticks and other dangerous
weapons. They destroyed over ten cars in the convoy and wounded
journalists and other participants.
“It was the security details around the first lady that alerted the
entourage about the happening. They were the ones who summoned courage
to remove all the bonfires and mounted road blockades before the first
lady was frisked out of the beleaguered scene.
“Most of the journalists were wounded with the aid of sticks , bottles and sticks thrown by the protesting students.”