Apparently, the authorities of the polytechnic in Ogun State had insisted that all pupils pay the fee to repair a building that recently got burnt before they were allowed to sit their examinations. Miss Oladokun, 28, was among over 100 students who could not pay the said sum within the stipulated period and decided to pay cash on the day of the incident.
On the day, however, she was turned back by the soldiers, who insisted that she would not be allowed to do her exams. It was learnt that the soldiers pounced on Miss Oladokun and mercilessly flogged her while she pleaded to be allowed to pay the fee and do her exams.
Following the beating she got, a petition by her lawyer, Habeeb Whyte of RRA & Associates, has been forwarded to the Ogun State governor’s office, the education ministry, the office of the speaker of the Ogun State House of Assembly and National Association of Ogun State Students. It pointed out that she and several other students of the polytechnic were barred and denied access to write the Use of English examination by the soldiers.
“Our client, having paid her school fees for the session, went to the school premises with the hope of paying her own maintenance fee in cash. However, the said N5,000 was rejected at the entry point on the ground that it was too late for her to pay the fees, so she stood at the school gate with other affected students of the institution, hoping that the management would collect the said N5,000 from her and allow her write her examination.
“She pleaded profusely but that did not attract the mercy of the management of the institution, especially the rector Professor Jumoke Awoderu, who ordered soldiers attached to the school to use force to disperse the affected students. We gathered that the rector of the school gave an order to the officers of Operation Mesa attached to the school to use force to send and other students away from the school’s gate," the petition added.
According to the petition, on the orders of the rector, Miss Oladokun was flogged several times by two men in uniform with wire and the tail end of their guns, causing her to sustain injuries. It alleges that she was further dragged on the floor and brutally molested, making her to sustain several injuries on her body.
Mr Whyte added that the men in uniform, having realised the gravity of what they had done, then took Miss Oladokun to the office of the rector and lied that she was confrontational. He added that the rector saw this and instead of doing the needful ordered that the student be taken to Tapon Police Station to make statements on what actually transpired between her and the men in uniform despite her bad condition.
Ms Oladokun, a native of Isara Remo, was said to have been detained at the police station for about 10 hours before she was released, following the intervention of a traditional ruler His Royal Highness, Oba Beje of Oke Agbo in Ijebu Igbo, who other students of the institution had gone to report the unfortunate incident to. Apparently, the monarch frowned at the act of the police officers and the school authorities.
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