Officers of the Nigerian Police in Ekiti state have allegedly shot to death two students of the Federal University Oye-Ekiti, Ekiti State (FUOYE), and injured many during a peaceful protest embarked on by the students over poor power supply in the community.
The students had commenced the protest in the early hours of Tuesday, four months after they had stormed the office of the Benin Electricity Distribution Company in Oye-Ekiti, disrupting academic activities over similar poor power supply.
This time, the students had decided to blocked the Oye and Ikole campuses, stopping fellow students and staff from gaining entrance into the school premises.
They were sported carrying placards with inscriptions such as “Say No to NEPAPHOBIA”; “We need light” chanting “we need light” in songs.
However, the protest changed when persons suspected to be hoodlums, hijacked the protest by students of FUOYE and attacked the convoy of the wife of the Ekiti governor, Mrs Bisi Fayemi.
According to report, the Wife of the Ekiti State governor was returning from a tour of the 16 Local Government Areas of the state; on an empowerment programme.
The hoodlums were said to have engaged the security operatives in violent clashes and allegedly vandalised vehicles in the convoy of the state governor’s wife.
The violent situation led the shooting of two students. In return, the irate students allegedly beat a policeman to death and set the office of the Benin Electricity Distribution Company and a police van ablaze.
One of the protesters, Okedare Gbenga, a 300-level student of Geology department lamented how students pay for light but they don’t enjoy it.
Another protester, Adekola Ayomide Franchis, a 300-level student of Accounting department and President of the Faculty of Management Sciences, lamented the poor power supply.
Former Vice-Chairman National Association of Nigerian Students, Ekiti State, Comrade Taiwo while addressing the students declared the protest opened, threatening it will be sustained until government addressed the situation.
Speaking at the school gate while addressing the students, The President of the Students Union Government, Oluwaseun Awodola, lamented poor power supply that has led to the insecurity of the students.
Watch the graphic video captured by Instablog9ja below.
