Fee hike: OAU students defy police order

Students of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, on Friday prevented policemen apparently deployed to eject them from the campus from carrying out the order.

The students locked the university’s main gate to prevent security operatives from moving inside the campus to forcefully eject them, our correspondent noticed.

The management of the university had on Tuesday announced an indefinite closure of the institution following a protracted protest by the students who had vowed not to pay the new fees regime introduced by the management.

The Public Relations Officer of OAU, Mr. Abiodun Olanrewaju, had in a statement issued to announce the closure, given the students till 4pm on Thursday June 19 to vacate the campus.

There was an attempt to eject the students on Thursday but the students locked the gates to ensure that the mobile policemen deployed in the campus to carry out the order were frustrated.

After locking the gates, the students made fire where they cooked beans in large pots which they ate to sustain the struggle. The Students’ Union President of the institution, Mr. Isaac Ibikunle, had told our correspondent on Tuesday that the students would not obey the management’s vacation order.

He said that they were going to protest the fee hike until the institution reverse it.

The Public Relations Officer of OAU’s Students’ Union Government, Oludare Bamidele, said in a statement made available to journalists on Friday that the students held a congress on Wednesday night and resolved not to vacate the campus.