The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo state has rejected the reduction in the reparation fee of N25,000 to N15,000 imposed on students of Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko, as a condition for their readmission into the institution.
The development was the aftermath of the rampage that greeted the death of one of them, Afolabi Ojo
APC said the reduction has not changed the fundamental that the levy is still unacceptable and a travesty of justice.
A statement by the Director of Media and Publicity, Steve Otaloro said: “This reduction in fee has given credence to our earlier statements that the school authority erred in imposing levy on the students in the first place.
“We are re-emphasising that this levy was hurriedly done to divert the attention of the public from government negligence in doing the needful for the state University.
“It seems the school authority is not getting it yet. The point we (APC) are making is that there is no reason students should be punished for a preventable death of one of their colleagues when they are not the cause of the unfortunate death.
“The government is as culpable when it refuses to provide a backup healthcare facility for Afolabi Ojo, as when it actually participated in his death.
The statement said making scapegoats out of the students was a precarious move the government applied to save its face in the public.
It said: “This is not working and will never work as the public had since exonerated the helpless students.
“While not condoning any act of violence, we must however get things right. It’s natural that emotions always run high in human seeing the death of a colleague that could be prevented the way Afolabi Ojo seems to have been killed unattended to through non provision of good healthcare services at his disposal.
“If adequate Medicare had been provided for him- as he might have probably paid for health centre fee as charged as part of school fee, the situation would have been different and understandable.
“The students would not have gone on peaceful demonstration that was allegedly hijacked by hoodlums and resulted in violence.
“As we all know times are hard in the state, people are hungry and consequently angry with the government for non payment of their salaries for an unprecedented five months which had resulted in low economic activities in the state.
“Anyone could have tapped on the people’s anger for the PDP-led government in the state to perpetrate violence.
“Therefore, forcing the students to pay reparation for a crime they did not commit- as there was no investigation that suggest otherwise, and having lost one of their colleagues to the cold hand of death in such a painful, shocking and unforgiving manner is excruciating enough to provoke another rounds of anger at the slightest provocation after their resumption.
“This reparation fee that only the school authority will be the sole benefits, and not minding the death of their student is most pathetic to comprehend.
“It is a callous reflection of their desire not to give value for life and a blatant disregard to the feelings of the parents of the deceased who are still grieving the lost of their son at this time and hoping to put a closure to the actual cause of the death of their only son by instituting a panel of inquiry to that effect instead of capitalising on their son’s death to raise unwarranted funds.
“Public perception is very sensitive and not handling this situation properly, especially when the loss of life is concerned could be perceived as callous.
” This situation must be handled with care, sensitivity and dispassionately to make everyone involved calm down the boiling tension.
“Any negative action as taken by the imposition of reparation fee such as this on students can spontaneously earned further provocation that would result in further uprisings in the future.”
