Students of the Obafemi Awolowo University, OAU, Ile-Ife have protested against the closure of the school by the management.
The aggrieved students took to the streets as early as 7:30am on Saturday as they protested both within and outside the campus in Osun State.
The students barricaded the campus gate and blocked the major roads leading to the school, insisting that the management must rescind its directive on the complete shutdown of the campus as well as that students vacate the hostels.
OAU students have insisted that the management must withdraw the directive to close the school.
The authorities of the institution had ordered the closure of the school and directed students to vacate the hostels following a protest sparked by the death of a final year student, Aisat Adesina.
Students’ union officials told reporters that they have zero confidence in the health facilities in the institution.
They blamed Aisat’s death on personnel who they said did not attend to her properly when she was rushed to the medical facility.
Vice President - elect of the Students' Union, Salvation Grace said, “The first thing we want the management to do is to open our school with immediate effect; we want it now,.
“We want justice for Aisat, we want justice for Korede (another late student), we want justice for every student who went to that health centre in their lifetime and were not treated properly.”
However, the management of the institution disagreed with the students, saying the closure of the school was a necessary at the moment.
OAU Public Relations Officer, Abiodun Olarewaju, explained that the management took the decision after appealing to the students on four different occasions.
“If you say you are protesting, it is your fundamental human right. But you should not allow that protest to lead to violence.
“Blocking the Ife-Ibadan Highway and the Ife-Ede Highway for nine consecutive hours is not right. We now envisaged a situation that as things were going, the university should be proactive and do the needful,” Olarenwaju said.
Scores of students gathered at the Students’ Union building to condemn the management’s decision, even as sources told reporters that the late Aisat would be buried on Monday at the school’s cemetery.
