History Of Notable Violence In Ogbomoso Town And How It Was Resolved

The need for the adopting of violence in demonstration of grievances on any issue should be seriously abolished because of its social, economic and security implications on our existence.

This sad event occurred on a Wednesday afternoon in March 2010 between Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) and it host community.

It was on one beautiful Wednesday afternoon when me and two of my friends were through in school for the day after hectic lectures, I was broke and hungry and I couldn’t afford to trek to my hostel in that hot afternoon with an empty stomach. I resolved to go with one of my friends whose hostel was in YOACO which was closer to school and trek able.

Few metres after we passed YOACO filling station, we got to junction that lead to my friend hostel. Buy surprisingly; we met about five motorcycles with driver and a passenger whose identities were later known to also be motorcyclist (Olokada) too on each bike making about ten motorcyclists.

As some of them were known for their touting characters, they were shouting and agitating on something me and my friends were curious to know about.

As a gentle person who don’t like to meddle in someone’s else affair coupled with the fact that I was heavily hungry and tired, I told my guys that we should leave them alone with their problem but my friend insisted that should ask what they were raging was about.

What is the problem all about asked my friends? One of them answered ‘alaye mo dasi o, won ma gba ni ibi loni, won ni wo tan’ asking my friend not to meddle in the affair.

I gave my friend a gesture with expression “of did i not tell u to leave them before”? He did not still give up and moved closer to another person. He asked him what their agitation was about.

The person explained that one of their union member carried a passenger to one of the hostels in that area, on getting to the front of one hostel he dropped and gave thee bike man N1000 note, the bike man told him that he didn’t have change but he insisted that he should look for it around.

There was one mashai closer to that place therefore the bike man went to ask if he could change the one thousand naira note for him.

Amazingly, as soon the passenger learnt that the bike man had gone to look for change he powered the bike and ran away with it. He shouted and creamed but no one came out to help the poor bike man narrated by ALFA the leader of that group.

I didn’t know when the energy came from, I got interested in that issues, I asked why they were waiting at that junction?

We have sent three people to the hostel and we are waiting for their call before he go and burst the hostel he replied. I was scared to my bone marrow, these touts will burst student hostel? This is war in disguise.

My friends and I begged them to calm down and asked Alfa to select two of them with him to follow us to that particular hostel they were talking about and he agreed. On getting to the hostel, we already met three of their men they told us about.

It cut the students in that hostel like surprise because none of them was at home when the incident happened and none in that hostel matched the description of the culprit the bike men were giving.

The motorcyclists were that time extremely angry believing the students were lying and they were trying to cover the criminal because the victim insisted that the culprit must be leaving in that hostel. It was at that time i knew there was going to be problem.

One of them took out his phone and called the ‘battalion’ waiting for their alert that they have confirmed the culprit was from that hostel. At that point i told my friends to let us move out of the hostel immediately.

Thank God they agreed. In just a jiffy, they came in their group; they were so angry that they could kill if necessary. They bombarded that hostel beating everybody in that hostel mercilessly with weapons shouting OLE!!! (Thieves).

I busted into tears when i saw how innocent students were beaten blue back, some were half dead and there was nothing i could do. It was too late before we could mobilize ourselves to repel the attack.

Some have already gone with some students after stripping them naked and inflicted several injuries on them. Nevertheless, we managed to capture Alfa the group leader.

My friends and i managed to convince the student not to beat him as that could cause much problems unanticipated for between the community and students.

We informed the Student Union Government (SUG) about it and they called the attention of Chief Security Officer of the school to the matter.

While we were still thinking of what to do with Alfa and how to rescue the students taken away, the school security officers arrived in convoy and took few of us to security post including Alfa for statements.

We got to the station, made our statements and Alfa did his own too. The CSO called the Deen of Student Affairs (DSA) to brief him on the situation and he arrived immediately.

They asked Alfa to lead them to where the students could be taken to and they all left with school security van. We waited until around 6pm when they came back and they took the students to school clinic for medical assistance because of several injuries inflicted on them.

After the whole thing, the DSA addressed us not to take laws into our hands that they would do everything to bring the perpetrator of the evil act to justice and we dismissed to our various hostels.

On Thursday morning, the rumor about the death of the injured students broke out. Aluta sprite in the trait of LAUTECH students escalated and protest began.

Thousands of students of the institution bombarded the street of Ogbomosho town; beating all motorcyclists, seizing bikes, burning bikes, damaging social facilities of the town claiming that they deserved to be treated well as a result of economic inclinations they students brought to the community and not to be killing them one by one.

Some miscreant took advantage of the project to cause political upsets and stealing. It took the effort of police before the situation could be curbed.

It was later confirmed that the student did not die but haven’t seen that the situation had gone out of hands the school management declared two weeks mid semester break and asked all students to vacate the school premises and its environs.

On Friday morning the school management summourned the chairman of Association of motor cycle riders of Nigeria Ogbomosho branch, divisional police officer, and other stakeholder to a meeting at the school compound and the crisis was resolved. The perpetrators of the evil acts were also arrested

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