The police have foiled a protest by students of Kogi State-owned tertiary institutions. The police cited security reasons for their action after meeting with student leaders. But, students are accusing their leaders of being compromised. MOHAMMED YABAGI reports.
Lokoja, the Kogi State capital, received unusual visitors last weekend. Higher institution students from all parts of the state gathered for what they called “mother of all protests”, following the expiration of the March 31 deadline given the government to re-open all state-owned tertiary institutions, which had been closed down since January. The students planned “10,000-man march” to shut down the town and paralyse activities in government’s offices to draw attention to their plight.
Just before the students hit the highways and streets for the demonstration, which was spearheaded by the leaders of Students’ Union Governments (SUGs) of the affected schools, the police moved in to stop the protest, raising security concerns.
CAMPUSLIFE gathered that the Commissioner of Police, Wilson Inalegwu, invited the conveners of the protest for a meeting at the Police Command, where he advised them to shelve the planned demonstration for security reasons.
Pro-student groups, who had mobilised their members to join the protest in solidarity, accused the students’ leaders of “compromise”. Students, who travelled from far places to partake in the protest, left in disappointment when the conveners did not show up at the meeting point. They alleged that government had “bought over” their leaders.
All state-owned tertiary institutions were closed down in response to ongoing screening of state workers by the government and non-payment of workers. The SUG leaders in the affected schools took to social media to galvanise students for mass action. Students, initially expressed doubt about the demonstration, insinuating that there could be possible connivance between the government and the students’ leaders to make personal gains.
Students expressed disappointment when the demonstration was canceled in the last minutes. They described their leaders’ reasons as “April Fool”, suggesting that the government may have bribed them to stop the protest.
The SUG president of the Kogi State University (KSU), Philip Omepa, who spoke on behalf of the protest’s conveners, denied being compromised by the government. He said the protest was canceled after a meeting with the Commissioner of Police on Friday.
He said: “There is no truth in the insinuation that we have been bribed by the government to stop the protest. We were set for the demonstration before we decided to cancel it based on the security information made available to us by the Commissioner of Police at the state Police Command. We were informed by the Commissioner that the police would not be able to provide adequate security.
“If the police that are supposed to protect us say they could not guarantee our security, there is no need to embark on the protest. We were told the protest could be hijacked by non-students who may want to politicise the students’ demonstration. That is why we stopped it.”
But, one of the students’ leaders, who attended the meeting with the Commissioner, told CAMPUSLIFE that Inalegwu threatened them with arrest if the planned protest degenerated into violence. It was gathered that the Commissioner told the students’ leaders that the atmosphere in the state did not support their protest, and that it could be hijacked by the miscreants to precipitate large-scale destruction.
When the students’ leaders left the Commissioner’s office to share the information with their colleagues, their explanation could not convince students, who had gathered for the protest. Students described their leaders’ excuse as “expensive April Fool joke”, saying the protest’s conveners had been bribed. They said the development confirmed their earlier concern about the credibility of their leaders.
Some students faulted the timing of the protest, wondering why its conveners fixed last Saturday for the demonstration when the government offices would not be opened for business. They said the protest would not have achieved its desired impact, if it was held on Saturday. They criticised their leaders for lack of idea on how best to organise protest.
In a reaction, Omepa said the protest was called off after wide consultations with stakeholders, including security agencies and workers’ unions.
CAMPUSLIFE gathered that the government reached out to the students’ leaders, pleading for more time to conclude its talks with the striking lecturers. Our correspondent gathered that there were meetings held at the weekend, where government’s representatives asked for two weeks to allow talks with the workers’ unions.
It was learnt that the government, as part of conditions given by the students’ leaders, agreed to stop screening of tertiary institutions’ employees and hand it over to the Governing Council of each school to conduct. CAMPUSLIFE learnt that the government took the step to pacify the workers’ unions, who had opposed the screening on the reason that school system is different from the civil service.
At a meeting of KSU Governing Council with the students’ leaders, CAMPUSLIFE gathered the government had paid one month salary, promising to offset the backlog soonest.
