ADO EKITI — Students of Ekiti State origin in tertiary
institutions embarked on marathon prayers to seek
divine intervention in the five- month old strike by the
members of the Academic Staff Union of Nigerian
Universities, ASUU.
The students, who were drawn from the various
institutions of higher learning converged at Lady
Jibowu Hall, Ekiti Government House where they held
the prayer session
The session had in attendance, the state’s Deputy
Governor, Professor Modupe Adelabu and some clerics.
Adelabu in her remarks cautioned the students
against taking to the streets and engaging in illegal
acts that could lead to violence and disruption of
peace in the state.
She noted that they did the right thing by taking their
petition to God. She said it was unfortunate that both
parties to the dispute – ASUU and the Federal
Government – had remained adamant despite
interventions from well-meaning Nigerians.
The number two citizen of the state urged the students
not to relent in their regular prayer for divine
intervention, saying that the death of Prof Festus Iyayi,
a frontline ASUU member in an auto-crash along the
Abuja-Lokoja Road introduced another twist to the
lingering dispute.
Mrs Adelabu, who expressed the hope that the prayers
of the students would yield the desired result in a
matter of days, counseled the undergraduates against
engaging in activities that could jeopardize their future.
Mrs Adelabu regretted that the situation which keeps
them at home in the past few months was not their
own making and that their teachers did not deliberately
embark on the strike to put the students’ future at
stake.
According to her, the lecturers were only pressing for
their rights and other logistics that will improve the
facilities in the nation’s citadel of leaning and to make
them world standard.
Advising the students to engage themselves in
profitable ventures, she also urged them not to
completely abandon their studies but constantly review
their lecture notes in preparation for the re-opening of
the varsities.
Pastor John Aladete in his sermon at the prayer
session urged the students not to be daunted by their
present predicament as a result of the protracted ASUU
strike.
The cleric charged them to be hopeful with an
assurance that God will be with them irrespective of the
present development. He said God has designed their
generation to bring the desired change needed by the
country.
The students were later led into series of prayer
sessions by some clerics including the Government
House Chaplain, Rev. Fr. Anthony Famuagun, Pastor
Tunde Akinola of the Redeemed Christian Church of
God (RCCG), the Senior Special Assistant to the
Governor on Youths, Pastor Mike Awopetu and Special
Assistant to the Governor on Student Affairs, Mr
Adeoye Aribasoye.