Osun College Shut As Students Protest Colleagues’ Deaths

The management of the Osun State College of Education, Ilesha, on Tuesday, shut down the institution following a protest by the students over alleged serial deaths among them.

A 400-level student in the Political Science Department, Ridwan Aare, told our correspondent that the students embarked on the peaceful protest because of the death of four students in less than a week.

Although he added that the deceased suffered from different ailments before their death in their respective homes, Aare, who is the Public Relations Officer of the National Association of Nigerian Students, Joint Campus Committee, Osun Axis, said other students were agitated because of the frequency at which the deaths occurred.

He said, “Last week Friday, we lost one Patrick Akomolafe, a 300-level Biology student; also, Usman Wasiu, a 100-level Biology/Integrated Science student died this week.

“Just yesterday (Monday) after our congress, we got information that two students died. One Ayomide, a 300-level Agriculture student, as well as one other student, whose identity is not immediately known, also gave up the ghost.

“Today, we decided to embark on a peaceful protest because of the serial deaths. We don’t know who the next victim will be. Many of our requests to the management are also left unattended to.”
However, the management of the institution, in a statement made available by the Public Relations Officer, Segun Ojolo, dismissed insinuations of serial deaths among the students.

The statement said the management commiserated with the parents of two students of the institution, who died in the last two weeks as a result of illness, and decried how some miscreants hijacked the situation to cause unrest on the campus.

“It is unfortunate that while the college’s management, staff and the legitimate representatives of student bodies were mourning these sad occurrences, some miscreants chose to use the occasion to mobilise unsuspecting students for violence to the extent of assaulting the Divisional Police Officer and his men,” the statement said.

The management subsequently directed the students to proceed on the mid semester break, adding that the resumption date would be announced later.