The management of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife in Osun State, has shut down the academic institution “until further notice” following protests that erupted following the untimely death of 24-year-old final year student of the school, Adesina Omowumi Aishat. In a statement on Friday evening, the Public Relations Officer (PRO), Abiodun Olarewaju, said the move was aimed at preventing the breakdown of order as the students, who were protesting over the death of a Year 4 student, Adesina Omowumi Aishat, blocked the Ife/Ibadan and Ife/Ede roads. He said the management ordered immediate closure of the school and asked the students to vacate their hall of residence before 12 pm on Saturday. “Therefore, having exhausted all necessary avenues to call the students to order and allow normalcy to return to the campus and its environs, the authorities of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, have accordingly closed down the school until further notice. This is to forestall further breakdown of law and order. The swearing-in ceremony of newly-elected Students’ Union members has also been suspended, the statement added. “In the meantime, the University management has put in place the machinery to unravel the circumstances surrounding the immediate and remote cause(s) of the crisis,” it said.
Narrating how the late Aishat, the PRO explained that the student of the Department of Foreign Languages, “reported to the Health Centre with signs and symptoms of a severe infection.
“She was promptly treated with some drugs prescribed and asked to report back as an out-patient. She reported back to the Health Centre in the morning of Thursday, 30th September 2021. Upon examination, she was referred to the Seventh Day Adventist Hospital for further management where she regrettably died on Thursday 30th September 2021.”
Olarewaju, while condoling with the parents, “the parents, friends, colleagues and the entire students of the University on this sad loss”, prayed for the repose of her soul.
The protesting students had alleged that the death of Aishat was due to negligence on the part of the staff of the University Health Centre.
Meanwhile, the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Zone D, has condemned the ‘reckless’ closure of the OAU by the Prof. Eyitope Ogunbodede-led management and demanded as a matter of urgency and necessity the re-opening of the institution for students to continue their examinations.
The NANS threatened to call for the removal of the University’s Vice-Chancellor, even as it disclosed that its Zonal leadership will relocate its secretariat to the University campus gate until the VC reverses the decision.
They also called on the students of the university and all student union bodied across the South West to mobilise in numbers for a showdown on Saturday until the management rescinds its decision.
