The Academic Staff Union of Universities has reacted to the harassment of protesting students by soldiers on Thursday.
The PUNCH reported that students who were protesting at the gate of the University of Ibadan, Oyo State, earlier today, had a face-off with a team of the Nigerian Army who attempted to run over the students in a bid to forcefully gain passage.
ASUU reacted in a statement signed by its Lagos Zonal Coordinator, Comrade Adelaja Odukoya, titled ‘NEED FOR EXTREME CAUTION, DEMOCRATIC CIVILITY, AND SENSITIVITY IN HANDLING STUDENTS PROTESTS’. The body condemned the actions of the military and the Nigeria Police Force so far, asking the High Commands of the forces to “issue stringent directives of caution to their operatives who have made two to three attempts at attacking students.”
Odukoya said, “Army and Police have constitutional responsibilities to protect and not attack, maim or brutalise protesting students across the country. There are more than enough pains, anguish, and bloodshed in the land on account of the government’s failure; to allow security indiscretion to cause the death of a single student will be unconscionable and unacceptable.”
