The rector employed a despotic approach to bring in hoodlums to infiltrate students who were protesting peacefully.
The Students’ Union Government (SUG) of the Ogun State Institute of Technology, Igbesa, have accused the Rector, Olufunke Akinkurolere, of hounding the executives of the students' body with the security operatives.
According to the OGITECH SUG, the rector employed a despotic approach to bring in hoodlums to infiltrate students who were protesting peacefully.
The union further disclosed that Akinkurolere hence ordered the policemen to arrest a student, Samuel Linus, in a ‘kidnap-like’ approach on Monday.
The students disclosed these to SaharaReporters on Tuesday adding that their rector decided to unleash tyranny on them for protesting against unmet demands from the school.
OGITECH students revealed that the SUG had resorted to protest to press home their demands which were well spelt last month, but not met by the school management.
In a communique issued signed by the SUG President, Comrade Ayinde Saheed, the demands were; the release of the first-semester examination result, the mop-up for students who were not allowed to write the Computer Based Test (CBT) with no criteria because it was a test and not an examination.
Others were; the time for the conduct of both the Student Union and Departmental elections, the repair of the internal school road, and change in the security architecture of the school as the students no longer felt secure on campus.
It was disclosed that the institute authorities only met the first demand while others were left unattended to, which forced the students to embark on a protest from Monday, October 4, 2021.
However, in a statement by the SUG President obtained by SaharaReporters on Tuesday, the OGITECH students asked the Ogun State Governor to come to their rescue by calling the rector to order.
The statement read, “The recent happenings on OGITECH Campus by now are no more news to the public. The agitations and simple demands of the OGITECH Students’ Union are now in the public.
“While the Students’ Union body has remained civil and intellectual in the handling of the affairs, the same cannot be said of the Rector as she has proven to be a despotic tyrant who is under the influence of toxic power and thereby instigating violence by all means.
“It is on record that on different occasions, the Rector has tried all her best possible to infiltrate the students' populace by sponsoring hoodlums to attack and hijack the peaceful protest in order to deface our genuine struggle. We have, however, remained intellectual and vigilant in our activities by fishing out potential violent people and organizing ourselves peacefully.
“The Rector has resorted to this violent approach after failing to fulfil her agreement with the student leaders at a meeting that had NANS excos in attendance on September 23.
“When some of these violent approaches failed, the Rector has since been planning on how to bring uniformed men to harass students and force them into silence just like every tyrant in history would do. This new plan was leaked and we the students have started crying out ahead.
“To our greatest shock, the Rector has ordered the Police division in Igbesa to start picking up innocent students on the road and in their hostels and keep them in detention.
“One such successful kidnap-like action was the pickup of one of our comrade, Samuel Linus today Monday, 11th of October.
“Samuel was kept in detention on the order of the Rector for close to 12 hours until information got to us and we challenged the police for his release. We are crying out to the governor to come to the rescue of the students of OGITECH in the hands of this tyrannical rector who puts on an innocent face but carries out devilish acts.”