By DAYO JOHNSON & GBENGA ARIYIBI
ONDO—STUDENTS of Adeyemi College of Education, Ondo, went on the rampage yesterday and vandalised no fewer than 50 vehicles including that of the Provost, Professor Adeyemi Idowu, over alleged mysterious death of no fewer than 20 of their colleagues in the last one month.
Also, 19 students of a secondary school in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State, have been apprehended by the police for alleged cult activities.
During the Ondo protest, school buildings were badly damaged while those housing banks and eateries on the school campus were allegedly destroyed by the rampaging students.
Investigation revealed that the students had earlier in the day pasted posters on strategic places in the school to mobilise others.
Report said some of the students said to have died mysteriously were allegedly in good health before their death.
They were reported to have suddenly developed strange ailments, while some were vomiting blood before death.
Vanguard gathered that the students contacted the management of the institution to find a lasting solution to the incident, but to no avail.
After they allegedly discovered that the management was not forth coming, they trooped into the street about 3.30 p.m. and barricaded the expressway with bricks, logs of wood and made bonfire.
The protest later turned violent as the students chanted war songs against the authorities and eulogised their dead colleagues.
A detachment of armed policemen was deployed to the institution by the state Police Command to restore normalcy.
Contacted, the Public Relations Officer of the school, Moses Akinfolarin, said the students acted on impulse based on false information circulated by their colleagues.
He said: "It is not true that 20 students died mysteriously in the school, we only have record of two students that died and there is nothing mysterious about the two deaths so far reported to the management."
The state Police Command said the crisis was an internal one between the students and their management.
Police Image Maker in the state, Adeniran Aremu, said men of the command had been drafted to the scene to restore sanity and ensure that the highway was free for traffic.
Meantime, the secondary school students arrested for cultism, 14 males and six females from "All Souls' Anglican Grammar School", on new Iyin Road in the state capital, were said to have been arrested after one of them allegedly maltreated a female student in the school.
Some of the arrested students were said to have confessed membership of the notorious 'Eiye Confraternity' to security agents.
When contacted, the principal of the school, Mrs. Grace Ibikunle, said a male student had attempted to beat up a female student for refusing his love advances.
The principal noted that it was the highly- traumatised female student that mentioned the names of those that were alleged to be cult members and their ring leader, simply identified as 'Afin' (Albino).
According to her, "Some of the indicted female students had several tattoos on their shoulders and thighs with inscriptions such as: 'Lady G, Lady D, Lady Elizabeth and several others. I met the records that some cult members, who were not students of the school were arrested with charms and dangerous weapons three years ago, though l was not in this school then."
She blamed the menace of cult activities in the school to the proximity of the Satellite Campus of the Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti, to where the school is located.
The Police Public Relations Officer of the Ekiti State Police Command, Mr Victor Babayemi, confirmed the incident.
He said the students were arrested following complaints from their teachers and parents over their alleged involvement in cult activities, adding that they were released to their parents after interrogation.
Vanguard Nigeria