Osun State Commissioner of Police, Mrs.
Dorothy Gimba, has declared that
Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), one
of Nigeria’s leading tertiary education
institutions, has become a haven for
armed robbers, cyber criminals, otherwise
known as Yahoo boy; rapists, and cultist.
The students would, however, not accept
this claim by the Nigeria Police, which
they have described as being brutal on
them.
The commissioner of police, represented
by the Assistant Commissioner of Police
(Operations) ACP Olumide Kayode, made
this assertion during a close-door meeting
with the leadership of the school’s
chapter of the National Association of
Nigerian Students (NANS) leaders at the
police Headquarters in Osogbo led by its
Secretary General, Momodu Daniel, a 300
Level Political Science student of Obafemi
Awolowo University.
Kayode who claimed he was making his
assertion from intelligence gatherings
said, “Permit me to tell you that in the
past two to three years now, we have
(Osun Police) been having problems with
Ife. It’s either a lecturer was beaten, a
lady raped, car theft, ritual murder,
robbery case handled, a cultist arrested or
cyber crime case treated”.
But the students, in a statement by the
Director of Information and Strategy of
NANS, Sam Adegbola, said the allegations
are false.
In a reaction credited to the NANS
Secretary General, Daniel said, “OAU is
arguably the most peaceful institution in
the world and the university management
does not condone any form of criminality
or uncultured activities.”
According to him “raping of students is
never a commonplace in OAU because this
is a school where anybody can walk freely
both during the day and even late at
night. No student has ever complained of
being disturbed by any cultist or cult
group and moreover, no student has been
reported missing”.
The Secretary General of NANS also stated
that even with the rampant cases of cyber
crime in Nigeria, OAU students could be
exonerated, noting that those involved in
the activities may be students of other
schools within the Ife metropolis and not
OAU students.
He said he was never aware of any OAU
student being alleged for armed robbery,
adding, “There is practically no room for
such people in OAU that I know, probably
they are students from other schools in
Ife.”
“The OAU Security Department led by Mr.
Paul Ogidi is on top of the job, they are
always available; but I believe the absence
of the Students Union has made their
tasks burdensome” he said.
According to Daniel, the essence of the
visit was to facilitate the reduction of
friction between the students and the
Nigerian Police, while also condemning
the series of attacks on Nigerian students
by police, decrying also, the killing of
students, especially during protest.
Four students, it would be recalled, were
shot by policemen at the University of
Uyo which also informed the death of the
five NANS leaders, including the Senate
President of the body, Donald Onukaogu
who died in a ghastly auto crash while on
the way to the institution for a peace
keeping mission.
Kayode, however, thanked the NANS
leaders for sparing time out of their ever
demanding official schedule to dialogue
with the Osun State Police, noting also
that that the police would do everything
to prevent people from threats to the
society.
On his conviction that some of the so-
called criminals are OAU students, Kayode
said, “We know that these are students of
OAU because whenever we try to make
any arrest, the suspects always run to
OAU to seek for cover because they know
they can be protected by students who
would stop our men from arresting them.”
“We’ve had cases where your students
(OAU) used their colleagues, usually
female students, for money rituals and
I’m sure you are not oblivious to this;
some of your students are involved in the
so-called yahoo plus but I believe the
school security is trying its best but they
can’t do it alone. The school still needs
vigilantes to complement the efforts of
the university’s security,” he said.
Kayode, however, rejected claims that
Nigerian Police brutalizes students during
protest. He said “Gone are those days. The
Police are aware that the students need to
fight for their right and we even try as
much as possible to give our little
support; the Police will never kill any
innocent student because of protest. A
thief is a thief; any student that is
involved in armed robbery would be
killed. That’s all!”
In a related development, the President of
the National Association of Nigerian
Students (NANS) Yinka Gbadebo who once
claimed that the Police were after his life
has announced that the body is set to
organize a national congress against rough
treatment of students by the Nigerian
Police.
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