ASUU Strike: Students protest at UI amid tight security

Students converged on Ibadan, close to the University of Ibadan gate, to stage a peaceful protest over the ongoing warning strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

They staged the protest on Friday.

Solomon Emiola, a 200-level student of UI, who led the protest in Ibadan, said the protest was necessary because the students were tired of staying at home.

“Our leaders have continued to politic with our future. Our goal is to shut down the whole of Ibadan until our demand is met,” said the student.

He explained that the protest would continue daily until the government listened to students’ yearnings.

Another student, Daniel Eyilabor, said, “If we say that school is a scam, we will not be wrong because our lives are on hold, and those who even graduated do not even have jobs. We have to stand up for our rights.”

Also, Emelieze Andrew, a former chairman of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), stated that the protest was to awaken the spirit of students whose rights are trampled upon by the government.

Mr Andrew said the lingering ASUU strike was due to the negligence and failure of leadership.

The protest took a new dimension when the Students’ Union Leader of UI, Yinka Adewole, stopped the protesters from locking the UI gate.

Mr Adewole said most of the protesters were not UI students. He said the university students had scheduled their protest to be held on May 17.

Security operatives were on the ground to forestall the breakdown of law and order.

(NAN)