OAU students protest death of colleague, demand justice

By Jeleel Olawale

The students of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife on Wednesday trooped out en masse to protest against the death of a 500 level student, Okoli Chizoputam, who was beaten to death by a mob, who were also students of the institution over alleged cell phone theft at the Awolowo Hall of the institution.

The protesting students came out in the early hour on Wednesday blocking main entrance of the university causing traffic greadlock in the university. Many people abandoned their vehicles and trecked to the university.

The president of the Students’ Union, Olayiwole Folahan Festus, said they came out to protest against the barbaric act of jungle justice resorted to by some students on campus leading to the death of one them. He urged the university authority to bring the perpetrators to book to serve as deterrent to others.

The deceased was from the department of Civil Engineering of the institution who was accused of phone theft by some students, who descended on him and allegedly beat him to death.

Reacting, the Public Relation Office of the University, Mr Abiodun Olarewaju said the protest is not against the university administration but to mourn one of their colleagues who was beaten to death on Tuesday. It is a peaceful protest and normalcy has since returned to the university.

“You cannot determine human behaviour at any point in time, but what you need to do is to let everybody know the consequences of their action. Whoever commits adultery will have to face the consequence. You cannot stop people from committing it. You can’t stop anybody from undertaking action.

“The university has its law in place against any action taken by students. We have our law in place and we have done the needful. You do not curb an action that has consequences. The only thing you can do is to call attention of anybody that commits such atrocity to face the music and the consequences of the action,” he said.

NewsDirect reports that a 500 level student of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Okoli Chizoputam, was killed by a mob who were also students of the institution over alleged phone theft.

The Students’ Union has described the mob action as inhumane with a pledge to ensure justice is meted out accordingly.