BY ADESOLA IKULAJOLU
A rise in attacks on students of Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko (AAUA) who live off-campus has pitched the students against the institution’s leadership. Although the institution has asked the Students Union (SU) to write, the SU has alleged that it is not showing enough attention to their plight. ADESOLA IKULAJOLU (300L Mass Communication) and Anjorin Philip (200L Mass Communication) report
It happened at the Federal Capital Territory Villa (FCT), one of the off-campus hostels occupied by students of the Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko (AAUA), Ondo State.
Mosimiloluwa Ayinde was enjoying her sleep when some intruders banged on her door. She opened her left eye to check the time. It was 3.30am.
Ayinde dragged her feet. She was aware of the usual early morning distraction from her next door neighbour who always comes for matches.
She made for the door. That was when the worst happened!
“The knocking became incessant. They (intruders) threatened to break the door if I didn’t open it. Out of fright, I had to open the door only to see two hooded guys,” recalled Ayinde, a 200-Level student of Science Education.
He continued: “They started flashing torchlight at my face to prevent me from seeing them. Thankfully, I had panicked before I opened the door. My voice roused other occupants in the hostel; because of that, they couldn’t go to the next rooms to operate. They carted away cash, hand set, wristwatch, ATM cards and credential. Though I wasn’t hurt, it was an awful experience.”
Ayodeji Olukotun, a 200-Level student of the Department of Criminology and Security Studies, was the first victim at the villa.
Olukotun recalled how he hosted a friend who later sought to use the toilet at dawn. According to him, the music blaring from his friend’s mobile phone was the magnet that attracted the hoodlums.
Although the structure is fenced, the curious criminals forced themselves into the hostel through a broken fence beside the toilet, Olukotun said
“There’s a broken fence beside the toilet. They (robbers) passed through the broken wall and came straight to my room. They packed our two phones. There were other phones brought to us by neigbours to help them charge. They packed everything,” he said.
Olukotun told CAMPUSLIFE that he was yet to report the matter to the police, because he wanted other victims to join him.
“If I go ahead to lodge a complaint, it could look as if I’m personalising it or something like that. Even though they’re yet to inform the police, we should do it collectively.”
Similarly, a 200-Level Mass Communication undergraduate, Olatubosun Samson, whose room narrowly escaped the eyes of the marauders shared his experience with CAMPUSLIFE.
“I woke up around 3:30 to urinate. As I was about to open the door, It suddenly occurred to me that the villa was not as silent as it used to be. I paused but before I could sense any danger, one of the robbers sped past my room, heading to the next. A female victim who was being robbed was shouting Jesus! Jesus!! It was her voice that kept others at alert. That girl actually saved us all.”
A student in another off campus hostel, popularly called Faculty of Character, had her share of the unfortunate experience.
“They went to all rooms and packed all of us in one corner. They had us all tied and started collecting our phones and money. This is the second time they’ll be attacking us,” said the student who pleaded anonymity for fear of reprisals.
He said: “When it became persistent, we invited the police. They came here to address us alongside students living in other hostels. They suggested that henceforth, all male students should watch over the hostel till 2a.m to safeguard the compound. They told us they had visited the monarch of the town, who said he would not release his guards on the grounds that they could step on toes as they would harass anybody they see at odds hours. Therefore, the police advised us to always be with our ID cards as a means of identification when we move around.”
The source further debunked the notion that the indigenes are the perpetrators.
She continued: “I wouldn’t say it was the indigenes because the first set of armed robbers spoke fluent English, Yoruba and Pidgin. The second set spoke incoherent English. It seemed they don’t know how to speak English but forced themselves to. So, I wouldn’t say specifically if it is the indigenes or the students. It might be both because there are different set of criminals that have been raiding the students.”
A 300-Level student of Mass Communication, who is also a resident-indigene in Akungba-Akoko, Comrade Oloookere Olorunsaanu, pointed out that the poor would continue to constitute hindrance.
“Insecurity in Akungba has no doubt increased, especially in locations with poor road network,” he said.
Olorunsaanu, a SU presidential aspirant, said concerned authorities could tackle insecurity by “involving leaders of the host community, in conjunction with the security apparatus.
The recurring stealing, theft and armed robbery attacks have been the lot of students of AAUA living off campus. Though AAUA was established as an on-campus institution, AAUA has halls of residence for males and females. While the female hostel is located within the school campus, the male is not. It is on the Akungba-Ikare road.
CAMPUSLIFE noticed a yet-to-be-allocated new hall of residence within the campus. However, the surge in students population has placed pressure on the accommodation within the campus, forcing the unlucky ones to seek an alternative accommodation beyond AAUA premises. However, rather than get a refuge, many students living off campus are at the mercy of anti-social elements within the Akungba communities.
But the Students Union (SU) is accusing insitution of giving them cold shoulder by showing less interest in matters that concern students beyond the university premises.
Nonetheless, it is not folding its arms over the matter.
Its Public Relations Officer, Babalola David, told CAMPUSLIFE that the union is mapping out security strategies to apprehend the perpetrators.
“Our plan on the security issue has been solidified and concrete enough. Last week, we invited some media organisations to Akungba and they honoured our invitation. The President of the Students’ Union and I used that opportunity to express our grievances,” said Babalola who is fondly called Babovid.
Babalola noted that SU has equally reached out to the institution, though the matter is beyond them as the incidents do occur outside the institution.
‘’The SU and the insitution have been meeting over the state of insecurity in off campuses. I, alongside SU president, and some faculty presidents, have held successful meetings with management.Though the vice chancellor was not around, the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academics) Prof Francis Gbore attended to them.
“I was not satisfied with our initial meeting. I had to see the DVC (Academics) to complain majorly about the insecurity and problems affecting the students.
“I told him that the institution leadership needed to act swiftly before the circumstances got out of hand. To avoid wasting time, he said the Students’ Union should write a letter to the institution. He said if the letters had been written since the robbery started, they would have been attended. I had to confront him that owing to bureaucracy, that process might drag. I informed him that the safety of lives and properties of the students is more important than the process of writing the letter. Before the letter get to them to sign, how are we sure that much harm wouldn’t have been done? Must we write letters for everything?”
Corroborating Babalola, SU President Adesomoju Samuel (aka Sampraise) lamented that the union decided to take its case to the police because the institution is indifferent to off-campus affairs.
“We have reported issues of robbery and insecurity of our students living off-campus to the police. However, against the insitution’s suggestion, we have decided not to write any letter to the leadership again because they seem to be less concerned about what’s happening off campus. Though the welfare of the students is their priority, more of things happening off campus are less within the power of the school leadership.
“For now, all we can say is that the police are making efforts to reduce the menace and clamp down on perpetrators.”
He pleaded with his colleagues to be vigilant and armed with numbers of the security agents. He urged them to inform the police as soon as possible and take other security measures.
Adesomoju bemoaned the deplorable road network in Akungba which, according to him, is a clog in the wheel of police efforts in combating insecurity in the community.
“Most of these places where invasions occur are non-motorable. Some areas such as Medoline, Adefarati, among others are non-motorable. It makes it somehow uneasy for the police to navigate those places. But look at places like Permanent Site and Small Gate, if anything happens and the police are being radioed, they will be there in a flash. As I said, those bad roads are hindrances because by the time the police arrive the scene, the criminals would have taken off.
“We are also engaging a local vigilante group that would work in conjunction with the people in a joint patrol of these areas to end the attacks on students.”
In a previous interview, the Dean of Students Affairs (DSA) Dr Olusegun Owolewa had said the insitution would announce who would occupy the new hostel.
“Nobody has told them that a particular hostel belongs to anybody. Nobody is staying there, so when the time comes, we will know who will occupy the new hostel,” Omolewa said.