Skip to main content

Ogun State Police Says No Students Killed At OOU Abeokuta

The Nigeria Police in Ogun State has denied that any students were killed earlier today at the Olabisi Onabanjo University in Abeokuta.  SaharaReporters had reported the death of two students during a students’ protest, following the violent intervention of the police.

The Nigeria Police in Ogun State has denied that any students were killed earlier today at the Olabisi Onabanjo University in Abeokuta.  SaharaReporters had reported the death of two students during a students’ protest, following the violent intervention of the police.

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content1'); });



The Police Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi, told SaharaReporters by telephone that while the police was called in to restore order at the university after students there began rioting over school fees, “The operation restored order to the school without a single bullet fired."

SaharaReporters has yet to be informed by the Students Union that the original information was wrong.  A government source said the photo of a dead student allegedly killed by the police came from a gang-related fracas yesterday in Sagamu area of the state.

Our reporter had earlier reached the Commissioner of Information, Yusuf Olaniyonnu regarding the claims by some sources of students being killed during a confrontation with the police but he said he was just leaving an executive meeting of the state government and hadn't been briefed about events at the university.

Mr. Olaniyonnu however explained that a major crisis had been brewing at the university over regularization of students statuses on campus, leading to the issuance of a letter to some students, especially those that had not registered as students for several years, to leave the campus.

“Following the expiration of the deadline given to students to regularise their records with the university, the Ogun State Government has directed that only students of the Olabisi Onabanjo University who have fully complied with the directives should come to the campuses to commence their examinations for the 2012/2013 Harmattan Semester which begins tomorrow,” the Secretary to the State Government, Barrister Taiwo Adeoluwa, said in the statement, which was released today.

It noted that in the student audit conducted by the Olusegun Osinowo Visitation Panel set up in 2011 to review situation in the university, five categories of students were identified:

•    The first category included those who are properly registered, have matriculation numbers and are up to date in the payment of their school fees.

•    The second category comprised students who have matriculation numbers but requested to be allowed to pay their school fees in installments.

•    The third category of students comprised students who have matriculation numbers but have defaulted in the payment of school fees over the years because they claimed their parents could not afford to pay.

•    The fourth includes students who are mainly in Parts 3 and 4 but did not register or pay school fees for the previous academic years.  

•    The fifth are those without matriculation numbers and are therefore not registered or bona fide students of the university, but loiter around the university campuses pretending to be students.
Of the fourth category, the government said those students had been directed by the University’s Governing Council, in line with the National University Commission’s conditions, to apply for reinstatement of their studentship which had lapsed as a result of their non-registration for one or more academic sessions.

“The only option left to them is to apply to the university authorities in line with the Federal Government guidelines for their reinstatement as students,” the statement said.  “They must follow the procedure for reinstatement. Otherwise, once the university completes the compilation of the list of bona fide students of OOU and forwards it to the National University Commission (NUC), they will cease to be students.”

It said the government regarded those in the first category as the only set of qualified students who could sit for the examinations due to commence tomorrow, and had advised those in the fifth category to steer clear of the university campuses henceforth, or face the wrath of the law.

“The students in categories 2 and 3, having failed to utilize the three deadlines set by the University council for them to regularize their financial records, have been advised to immediately apply for deferment of the academic year in line with the school regulations.”

The statement stressed that having given enough time for all students to resolve outstanding issues surrounding their qualification to sit for the examination, any student who plans to foment trouble will face the full wrath of the law as the university authorities have the full backing of the State Government in their determination to sanitize the university.

“We appeal to all parents, guardians and indeed all students to co-operate with the government as the on-going reforms in OOU are designed to restore the university to its former glory and status in the comity of Nigerian universities,” the statement concluded.  
 

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('comments'); });

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content2'); });