No fewer than six students were injured during a clash
among some students of the Obafemi Awolowo University,
Ile-Ife, Osun State, on Sunday evening.
While some of the eyewitnesses described the fight as a
power tussle between students who were loyal to the
President of the Student Union, Ibikunle Isaac, and those of
the Vice-President, Oladejo Olufunmi, others described it as
a cult attack.
They all, however, agreed that the clash was an aftermath
of President Goodluck Jonathan’s visit to the institution.
It was learnt that the Education Rights Campaign members
had just concluded a meeting at the Students’ Union
Building when the fight broke out.
Among those involved in the fight were some union
executive members, suspended students of the university,
members of the Security Committee of the SU and ERC
members.
Some of the students, who suffered varying degrees of
injuries, were rushed to nearby hospitals for treatment.
One of them, Tedy, was allegedly stabbed with a pointed
object suspected to be a screw driver, while another
student, David, was dealt a matchete cut on his head.
It was gathered that the door to the SU President Office,
where some students hid, was broken while the occupants
were thoroughly beaten.
There are, however, two sides to the cause of the fight.
While some of the students said it was as a result of
ideological differences, others inferred that it was related to
the protest held during Jonathan’s visit.
Jonathan, traditional rulers and some politicians were at
the OAU for a conference, where Jonathan was endorsed
ahead of the 2015 polls.
The campus fracas took a dangerous dimension when
students of the school engaged one another at the school
gate with weapons.
Chief Security Officer of the university, Mr. Paul Ogidi, said
there was no cult attack in the institution.
“It is true that our students fought. There was no cult attack
on our campus. We did not witness any attack, but a fight
among our students,” he said.
But the Vice-President of the Students Union, Funmi
Oladejo, insisted that what happened on the campus could
be likened to 1999 cult attack that claimed the lives of
students.
She denied the fight as being factional, but hinted that the
controversy that surrounded the presence of Jonathan on
the university campus last Friday contributed to the cause
of the fight.
She said, “I was to have a meeting at the SUB yesterday
(Sunday) around 6pm. On getting there, I met a student,
Sanyaolu Oluwajuwon, inside the gutter, where he had been
seriously beaten and I wondered what happened. After a
while, the injured students went to show the injury to others
and that enraged many students.
“Meanwhile, what started the fight, I heard, was that ERC
were having its meeting when the President and the PRO
passed through the place and saw them. He then called his
boys to come, saying some people were having an
opposition meeting at the SUB.
“After beating them up, they ran away except Teddy that
waited. We later realised that those that ran to town went to
hire cult members, who came with machetes. We
eventually caught four of them. Two were students and two
were non-students.
When asked if the fight was connected to Jonathan’s visit,
she responded, “As far as I am concern, that is to mess up
the whole issue. They want to make it a partisan stuff and
that is out of sense. Our unionism is known to be
independent and non-partisan. So, the case of Jonathan’s
visit was sardonic. They (Ibikunle’s faction) wanted to pay
back the opposition that greeted Jonathan’s visit.”
It was learnt that the two of the arrested people involved in
the fight were taken by students to the Awolowo Hall of the
university, while the security officials took another two
students involved in the fight.
The President of the SU, Isaac Ibikunle, told our
correspondent that none of his loyalists were cult members.
He promised to call back to give his “full reaction” after a
meeting expected to be held between members of the
executive and the parliament today (Monday).
The Public Relations Officer of the union, Oludare Bamidele,
said, “It remains a sardonic issue that suspended students
are beating legitimate students on OAU campus right now.
Is this intellectual struggle? The act of dragging a security
official to be beaten is an affront to law and arrival of the
hobbesian state of nature.”
Osun State Police Public Relations Officer, Mrs. Sade
Odoro, said those involved in the fight were not cultists.
She said, “OAU students truly fought and they were taken to
the police station. The police counselled and released them
after a while.”
Public Relations Officer of OAU, Mr. Biodun Olarewaju,
confirmed that the students fought over Jonathan’s visit to
the institution.
He said, “There was no cult invasion in OAU. Our campus is
too fortified for that to occur. Our security go on regular
patrol and we are in collaboration with external security
forces.
“What happened was just a fight between two groups of
students.
“Some believe that it was wrong for another to take picture
and welcome the President, Jonathan, while others believe
it is not, especially when it is done without their consent.
“It is just a friendly fight. All that happened was that a
group felt they were not carried along.”

in d prince voice
Any way jona go, u go know say Wahala dey, kasala dey
jona money.......singing till voice fade

Students Una too lyk clash ooo, after una go pose wit bandage.