Do more to protect students, NANS tells ACU authorities

National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has urged the management of Ajayi Crowther University (ACU), Oyo, to do more in protecting its students.

The NANS Senate President, Babatunde Akinteye, stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ibadan on Thursday.

NAN reports that a NANS delegation had, on Wednesday, gone to the university on a fact-finding mission on some indents that happened in the institution recently.

NAN also recalled that a female student of the university was allegedly raped by two security personnel within the campus, while another was killed by a group of other students over alleged phone theft.

The 200-level Mechanical Engineering student, Alex Timilehin, was said to have been beaten from 6 p.m. on May 24 to about 6 a.m. on May, 25.

Akinteye, however, said that the association was not satisfied with the measures put in place by the institution’s authorities to prevent such ugly occurrences from happening.

He said though the management had beefed up security in and around the campus, the hostels were still porous.

Akinteye also added that part of the pledges made to NANS by the school authorities was that the the Chief Security Officer (CSO) would be replaced.

“If not for the incidents that happened, we wouldn’t know the lapses on the campus.

“We checked through the hostels and saw that they are still porous. So we told them to improve the hostel facilities.

“We also told them to ensure that security guards are always on ground and that the porters should be inside the hostels during the working hours.

“So, if they are doing shifts, the porter on duty should not leave until the person taking over from him is around,” he said.

The NANS senate president also emphasised the need for re-orientating the students rather than waiting for something bad to happen before taking precautionary measures.

He called on the school authorities to investigate the circumstances surrounding the escape of one of the suspects in the killing of the student from the campus.

NAN reports that a total of 25 students of the university were arraigned before an Iyaganku Chief Magistrates’ Court in Ibadan on Wednesday in connection with the killing of their colleague.

NAN also reports that they had since been remanded in a correctional centre, pending the commencement of their trial on July 8.

Akinteye, however, said that the association would push for an amendment to the charges preferred against them.

This, he said, was because none of the students was directly charged with murder of their colleague.

“In the videos circulating, it is clear that some people were beating the victim directly, which eventually led to his death.

“So, the charges shouldn’t be the same for everyone involved in the incident,” he said.

When contacted, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the university, Mr Femi Atoyebi, confirmed that a NANS delegation was on the campus on a fact-finding mission on Wednesday.

He, however, said that the association was satisfied with the steps taken by the institution’s management after they had been briefed by the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Timothy Adebayo.

Atoyebi said: “NANS leadership from Abuja and zonal leaders in the South-West came to meet the management of the institution to hear the university’s side of the story.

The vice-chancellor, Prof. Timothy Adebayo, was able to tell them exactly what happened and was able to answer all their questions.

“He specifically told them that the university, as a faith-based school, would never cover up anything and that everything that happened is in the purview of the public. So there’s nothing to hide.”

Atoyebi said that NANS demanded for the list of those arraigned and asked that a thorough autopsy be done on body of the victim so as to can know what exactly happened.

Part of the demands of the NANS delegation, he said, was that the family of the late student be carried along in everything being done by the school authorities.

“They also demanded that the Inspector-General of Police sets up an independent body to investigate the matter.

“These are the issues that the students’ body made and they are things we have already done,” Atoyebi said.

He said while engaging the VC, the association was told that the family was being carried along and that the school had engaged University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, for an autopsy on the body of the student.

On the demand for investigation, Atoyebi said the vice-chancellor told the students’ body that the police had already taken it up, consequent upon which the suspects were arraigned in court on Wednesday.

He also quoted Adebayo as saying that the institution could not release the names of the perpetrators, as it was also part of the suit.

He said the list of the names was with the police and that the NANS officials should contact them for it.

Atoyebi said that after the meeting, the NANS leadership addressed the students at the institution’s main gate without any violence and was also conducted round the hostels.

“They saw transparency in all the management has done,” he said. (NAN)