Three out of the four students of Michael Otedola College of Primary Education, MOCPED, Epe who were allegedly shot by the police during a protest against the institution's management on Monday are feared dead.
According to eyewitnesses, the school authority had fixed the commencement of the first semester examination for Monday, June 17, 2013, but prevented those owing fees from sitting for the exams and when they were asked to leave the halls, they refused. It was further gathered that after being ordered out, the students started protesting, demanding to be allowed in.
When the Provost of the institution could not condone their action any longer, he invited the police to restore order, and in the process, the security men were reported to have shot four of the students.
One of the students, simply identified as Ibukun, said "our first semester exam was supposed to start on Monday and those still owing school fees were not allowed to write the exams, but they did not leave the school premises.
They protested that they be allowed to write the exams. "This continued and some students started throwing stones at the buildings. This did not go down well with the Provost who called in the police to restore order.
But since they could not control the situation, the policemen had to fire gunshots, even as the bullets hit four of our students, killing three of them while one of them survived.
Another male student who collaborated Ibukun's account, said, "We had started writing the exams when we heard sounds of broken bottles and saw that stones were being thrown at our building. All of us had to rush out to see what was happening.
"There was pandemonium when we got outside for the next thirty minutes before normalcy was restored. Surprisingly, when I was going to the auditorium, I saw the police coming into the school compound. From that moment till the time we ran away, it was like a war situation. Later, we discovered that four of our colleagues had been shot and only one of them survived", he said.
Although names of the students allegedly shot could not be ascertained or identified, it was, however gathered that the only survivor, said to be a 200-level Integrated Science student is currently receiving treatment at the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi, Lagos.
When contacted, the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Ngozi Braide told our correspondent that she was not aware of the incident, but promised to issue a statement after talking to the Area Commander.
National Mirror
That's how bad protest can be in this country and it's very terrible. So many students will now be scared of protesting....