Police tear gas protesting Ogun University students

The police have fired tear gas to disperse protesting students of the Ogun State University, OOU, Ago Iwoye. PREMIUM TIMES learnt that the students, who were initially embarking on a peaceful protest, turned violent after the teargas and damaged some public property. The students had as early as 6:30 a.m. continued their protest that they commenced on Thursday. The students, Friday morning, occupied the Presidential boulevard, the route leading to the office of Governor Ibikunle Amosun. They said they would not let the governor, who was yet to arrive the scene, get to his office unless he addressed their demands. The OOU students have demanded a further reduction of their school fees, after the governor announced a reduction earlier in the week. They also want the reduction to commence from the current academic session and not the next as proposed by the state government. Over 100 policemen were seen at the venue of the protest on Friday morning before the dispersal. The protesting students seized a mass transit bus belonging to the state government and forced a security vehicle filled with soldiers from the scene. They told the soldiers to go look for the kidnapped Chibok girls rather than prevent their protest from holding. The development caused gridlock on the dual carriage road as many motorists had to make detour. Several civil servants working in the governor’s office were forced to return home following the blockade of the road. The students had commenced the protest on Thursday and camped at Rev Kuti Secondary School in Abeokuta for the night. They continued the protest at about 6:30 a.m. on Friday. The President of the univeristy’s Students Union Government, Olusegun Ifade, who addressed his colleagues had promised that the protest would be peaceful as they would avoid clashed with security operatives. ‘Let us conduct the protest in peaceful manner,but we have occupied this road for now until the governor attends to our demands. We are not leaving here,” he said. The protesters had on Thursday had a brief clash with rival students of the Moshood Abiola Polytechnic who came to declare support for the governor. The security officials present looked away while the clash occurred. The Ogun Police Commissioner, Ikemefuna Okoye, later arrived to address the protesting students asking them to conduct a peaceful protest.