The students were on Thursday protesting against what they called insincerity by the state government on the conversion of the College of Education to a full-fledged university.
Many students of the College of Education, Ilesa in Osun state, have allegedly been shot by a hoodlum identified as Falomo Tolulope Peters.
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The students were on Thursday protesting against what they called insincerity by the state government on the conversion of the College of Education to a full-fledged university.
“The Osun State government has decided to upgrade the Osun State College of Education, Ilesa to awarding institution under the clear condition of Private Public Partnerships which is not favourable to the current students in terms of exorbitant fees that we will be asked to pay after the completion of the whole process,” a student told SaharaReporters.
“The most annoying thing is that the bill has been signed into law without a public hearing. So, we came out to protest only for our colleagues to be shot.”
The students’ union of the institution also confirmed the incident in a statement sent to SaharaReporters.
The union gave all security agencies and the state government 24 hours to produce the hoodlum.
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“It should be noted that: There is no going back on our demands, we are not stopping until the State Government see reasons to attend to us.
“It was at the early hour of today when an Ex-Student of our College named FALOMO TOLULOPE PETER who was armed was stopped by the students because we noticed that he was armed and that our lives were in danger if we allowed him to gain entrance.
“Ifalomo Tolulolope was a former Cultural Director of our union, he graduated and started living a life of cultism, fraud and illegal mining around Ilesa area. He is known for violence and gone wilding habit (sic), and some men of the police are aware.
“FALOMO TOLULOPE PETER was with GBENGA AJANGILA, ONE Mr. A.Y and POLICEMAN in a Camry car. He entered the car back and brought out a gun. FALOMO TOLULOPE PETER who is a graduate of PRIMARY EDUCATION STUDENT 2012/2013 SET started shooting at the STUDENTS who were protesting PEACEFULLY.
“It is important to also important to say that 20 of our STUDENTS were INJURED and at the time of releasing this statement, about 4 are currently receiving treatment at WESLEY TEACHING HOSPITAL ILESA.
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“The members of the public must be informed that we have informed all the appropriate security agencies, including the school management and we call on the GENERAL PUBLIC to NOTE that the STATE GOVERNMENT has FAILED us again.
“We also have it as a rumour that these guys are connected within the security agencies rank and files but we are giving a benefit of the doubt based on the promise of the DPO that all culprits in the shooting incidents would be apprehended.
“Let it be clear that our protest is peaceful and our demands are clear. We therefore state that our students are not armed and destructive, the tradition that we would sustain. We therefore declare FALOMO TOLULOPE PETER a CRIMINAL. He is WANTED, we, therefore, give SECURITY AGENCIES and the STATE GOVERNMENT 24HOURS to bring out FALOMO TOLULOPE PETER because he said NOBODY can arrest him even if he kills any of the STUDENT.
“We call the STATE GOVERNMENT to address all our FUNDAMENTAL DEMANDS as this is a way to distract the PUBLIC on what OUR DEMANDS ARE.”