The Deputy Governor of Ogun State, Noimot Salako-Oyedele, has said contrary to media reports, she was never attacked by the students of Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Abeokuta.
According to The PUNCH, Salako-Oyedele was said to have made this disclosure when the management of the polytechnic led by its Rector, Arc ‘Koye Jolaoso, visited her over the reported attack.
This is just as the management of the institution has also reinstated the Students Union Government dissolved on Tuesday due to the student’s face-off with the institution over the delay in mobilising the students for the national youth service and fee hike, among others.
The spokesman for the polytechnic, Mr Yemi Ajibola, disclosed this in a statement sent to journalists on Friday.
Speaking during the visit, the deputy governor said she was on her way to Alamala for Armed Forces Remembrance Day when the security details saw the crowd and told her driver to make a detour which the driver did without any ado.
The deputy gov added that she returned to her residence to allow the crowd to pass and later went to where she was headed on behalf of the governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun.
Salako-Oyedele explained, “If I had been attacked, I would not have gone to attend the programme at Alamala but I went when I was told they had gone.”
“I just want all of us to be careful of social media as it has caused many people calling me to ask after me on reading or hearing the news.”
She advised the students to always dialogue and be peaceful in handling issues.
Earlier, the Rector, MAPOLY, Arc Jolaoso, said the management came to apologise on behalf of the students and wanted her to forgive them as a mother.
He said, “We came on behalf of the Governing Council, management staff, and students of Moshood Abiola Polytechnic Abeokuta to apologise for what happened yesterday and the embarrassment it might have caused you.”
The delegation includes the Deputy Rector, Dr. Mrs. Yetunde Lanre-Iyanda; Registrar, Mrs. Olubunmi Elewodalu; Polytechnic Librarian, Basirat Akintunde; Bursar, Mrs. Folasade Madariola; the Chairmen and Secretary of the three staff unions on campus among others.
Recall that the protesting students of the institution were alleged to have attacked the convoy of the deputy governor on Wednesday around OPIC, Oke Ilewo, Abeokuta while on her way to represent the governor, Dapo Abiodun, at the reception marking this year’s Armed Forces Remembrance Day at 35 Artillery Brigade, Alamala, Abeokuta.
The students, led by the Chairman of the National Association of Nigerian Students, Joint Campus Committee, Ogun State, Adeyanju Francis, have, however, debunked the reported attack, stating that it was the security operatives of the Deputy Governor who shot at the students during a peaceful protest.
The students have called on Governor Abiodun to probe this unwarranted shooting and are also demanding that the Deputy Governor apologize to the students for the alleged misrepresented media report of the incident.
Similarly, the Chairman of the Governing Council of the institution, Prof. Kamaldeen Balogun, has directed that the incumbent Students’ Union Executive Council, dissolved in the wake of the crisis that led to the closure of the Polytechnic, be reinstated immediately to resume its oversight function.
The Union has, therefore, been mandated to conduct Students’ Union elections in accordance with the provisions of the Union’s Constitution and to hand over to a new set of elected leaders within the next four weeks.
