Skip to main content

Blind UNILAG Student Writes ‎VC Over Assault By Campus Security Men

A visually-impaired political science student at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Mr. Lawrence Success Umezinwa, has written to the Vice Chancellor of the institution, Professor Rahman Bello, to protest an assault on him by campus  security. The security men, according to Mr. Umezinwa, acted on the orders of the Students Affairs (DSA) to eject him from the hostel.

In the letter, Mr. Umezinwa said while on his way to submit some documents, a security man invited him to a meeting with  other officers, porters, and one executive of the hostel. He promised to attend the meeting after submitting the documents. As promised he went to the venue of the meeting, where he met six men, one of whom had a gun.

Mr. Umezinwa said he immediately linked the meeting to a letter issued to him by the DSA directing his removal from office as the Chairman of Mariere Hall. He believed that the security men were meeting him to carry out the order.

Things got nasty when the men attempted to seize his mobile phone, which he was using to record discussions at the meeting.  According to him, he had argued that there was a need to record the discussions.

In the process, one of the security men forcefully poked his finger into his blind eye, after which others joined in to twist his neck, remove his wristwatch, and tear his shirt. They eventually overpowered him and relieved him of his phone, which they did not return.  After the assault, they pushed him to his room to move out his possessions but they did not know which belonged to him or his roommate. According to sources, they then locked him out of the room and denied him access to it.

“Ever since that happened I have not been allowed entrance into the hall. This has led me to sleeping around,” Mr. Umezinwa said in his letter.

Attached to his letter was the eviction letter issued to him from office the Dean of Student Affairs, signed by Deputy Dean 1, Dr. Karo Ogbinaka, the letter, which ordered his removal from office as the Chairman of Mariere Hall of Residence, cited his failure to comply with a management directive to vacate the hall on 6 June as a reason.

Dated 9 June, 2016, the letter directed his deputy, Akintola Opeoluwa, to take over as the chairman with immediate effect. 

Through his letter to the Vice Chancellor, Mr. Umezinwa is seeking redress. He described his removal by the DSA as arbitrary and said his treatment the security men was "barbaric, uncivil, condemnable, and a breach of his fundamental human rights which calls for public concern."

"This institution is tagged nation’s pride but the office of the Dean of Student Affairs has not exhibited this in its conduct and I vehemently say as a student that this action needs to be thoroughly investigated and the perpetrators brought to book,” concluded Umezinwa.

Image

Topics
Human Rights