Expdonaloaded News; Armed Air Force security confront student protestors on Lagos/Badagry highway

Bloodshed was averted Friday morning when the escort team of a senior Air Force officer opened fire on protesting students and staff of the Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education (AOCOED), Otto-Ijanikin, Lagos State.The protesters had blocked the Lagos/Badagry Expressway, drawing public attention to the underfunding of the college and schemes to frustrate the renewal of the appointment of the college Provost, Mr. Bashorun Olalekan.


The blockade of the busy highway created traffic gridlock during the early morning hours, as hundreds of commuters, commercial buses and those rushing to work were trapped on the chaotic traffic for several hours. Business activities were grounded because those going to Seme and Mile 2 areas spent over four hours crawling through the traffic jam.
The protest took a frightful turn when the escort team of the Air Force officer arrived the scene in his convoy. Leading the convoy was an escort vehicle, marked ‘AirPolice’ with armed and masked personnel. The personnel jumped on the road with AK47 rifles but they met a wall of resistance by students and aggrieved staff.
When the protesters refused to make way for their boss, they opened gunfire, shooting their way through the crowd. Hundreds of students and staff, including aged women and children who were trapped at the scene, took cover on the ground. Shells from the bullets, which were gathered and made available to this reporter, were marked 762×51-96. The senior officer, whose identity could not be ascertained, sat in a jeep with tainted glasses, as his men confronted unarmed civilians.
The Chairman, Non Academic Staff Union (NASU), AOCOED, Mr. Femi Adebayo, said the institution, reputed to be the first tertiary institution in the state, was on the verge of collapse due to government’s negligence over the years.
“It is on record that while bailout was given to LASU, LASPOTEC and MOCPED (twice), AOCOED has not received any bailout or increment in subvention since 2010,” Adebayo lamented.
The union leader expressed disappointment about the injustice suffered by the college in the hands of the state government. According to him, while the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwumi Ambode, recently renewed the tenure of the provosts of MOCPED and AOCOED, the renewal letter of MOCPED was issued but the Deputy Governor, Dr. Adebule, sat on it to circumvent the directive and approval of her boss.
Adebayo said the college would be shut down indefinitely unless the government made good on addressing its grievances, which include, among other demands, bailout funds for the college; immediate release of renewal letter of the college provost, and an increase in monthly subvention, which has been stagnated since 2010.
Also speaking, the National President, AOCOED Alumni, Mr. Adeyemi Adesoya, said the issues facing the college had lingered for many years. He said the government had reneged on its promise to pay subventions and increments. More worrisome was the fact that such increments were paid to other tertiary institutions in the state.
Adesoya, a member of the Governing Council of the college, urged the state to address the grievances of the protesting workers and save the college from further crisis.