Student’s death: Ogun Assembly exonerates police

The Ogun State House of Assembly on Friday exonerated the police over the alleged killing of a student of the Tai Solarin College of Education, Omu-Ijebu during a recent unrest at the institution.

 

The lawmakers gave the police a clean bill of health just as the command headquarters at Eleweran, Abeokuta denied killing any TASCE student during the April 10 protest.

 

The legislators, however, criticised the institution’s Provost, Dr. Abiodun Ojo, for the “managerial ineptitude” displayed by the school’s authorities by failing to put in place the necessary security arrangement that would have forestalled an outbreak of such unrest during examination period.

 

At the peace and fact-finding meeting convened by the House Committee on Education and attended by the officials of the dissolved students’ union government and the management of the institution, the lawmakers directed TASCE management to ensure the immediate release of all the students currently being detained by the police over the protest.

 

TASCE students had last Tuesday protested the decision by the management to prevent some 200 level students of the institution from sitting for the ongoing first semester examination due to their inability to pay tuition fees.

 

But the protest led to the death of a 200 level student of Eco/Maths Department, Aromasodun Rasak Tunde. The lawmakers condemned the tagging of the students’ union executives as cultists by the school authorities.

 

Meanwhile, the Ogun State Police Command on Friday denied killing any student of TASCE during the protest on April 10.

 

The students’ union leaders of the institution had earlier alleged that the police killed five students during the protest.

 

But the Police Public Relations Officer for the command, Muyiwa Adejobi, in a statement in Abeokuta, refuted claims that the police shot and killed students during the protest.

 

“The command was taken aback to hear such disgusting rumour and thereby reiterates that no single student was killed by the police during the protest. The allegations by the students at the assembly were just to appeal to sentiment and for other reasons known to them.

“The command therefore appeals to the general public to disregard it as unfounded and baseless and a calculated attempt to create tension in the state.”