Police, students clash in Ibadan, 30 injured
From Iyabo Sotunde (Ibadan), Charles Coffie-Gyamfi (Abeokuta) and Chido Okafor (Warri)
VIOLENCE erupted in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital yesterday as policemen from the state attempted to prevent students of the Polytechnic, Ibadan, from taking the Labour-called protest to their own level of understanding.
About 30 students were injured in the clash.
The students, numbering about 5,000, were about protesting the increase in prices of petroleum products outside their campus when the armed policemen confronted them with two armoured tanks and tear-gas.
Trouble broke out when the policemen barricaded the main entrance to the institution to stop the students from going ahead with their protest outside the polytechnic campus.
Efforts by the students to resist the police blockade failed as the armed men forcibly dragged the students back to their campus.
During the mayhem, which followed, the policemen fired tear-gas at the students forcing them to take to their heels.
Students at the nearby Orisun Hall on the campus and the civil engineering unit of the institution were not spared as the entire south-campus of the institution was enveloped in tear-gas smoke.
In the ensuing melee, 30 of the students sustained injuries while the battle-ready policemen sealed off the institution's gate.
Meanwhile, the strike action was largely successful in Ibadan and other major towns in the state.
While civil servants stayed away from the state secretariat and some of the major markets remained closed for hours, commercial vehicle operators went their daily round.
Also, both the commercial and merchant banks in the state capital were firmly shut while armed policemen manned strategic points to maintain law and order in the state capital as well as Iseyin, Eruwa, Ogbomoso and Saki.
Speaking on the strike, the state police public relations officer, Mr. Femi Adedeji, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) said everything was cool and calm with the exception of the situation at Ibadan Polytechnic.
Adedeji stated that the students were trying to come out into the town to protest but were pushed back into the campus by the police.
According to him, men of the state police command were ready to deal with any breakdown of law and order.
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and a coalition of civil society groups called on all Nigerians to stay at home from yesterday till Thursday to protest the latest fuel price increase of over 22 per cent per litre.
In Ogun State, banks, hospitals, fuel stations, schools and all government ministries and parastatals remained shut throughout the day. Also shut were the courts. Though the main gate of the State House of Assembly and the Governor's Office were opened, the workers stayed away from duty. Few taxis plied the road but traffic generally was very light throughout the day. The police did not take any chances however as their presence was in most part of the state.
By 5.30 a.m., two truck-loads of policemen had been stationed at the Ibara Post Office, a potential trouble spot.
At the state NLC secretariat, armed policemen were noticed at the entrance when The Guardian called at about 11.00 a.m.
The state Police Commissioner, Mr. Olusegun Efuntayo, told The Guardian in a chat he was glad about the peaceful manner the people conducted themselves.
Efuntayo, who monitored the strike in some major cities, including Ota, disclosed that he had deployed three quarters of his men to the "field" to check any eventuality.
Said he: "My men are everywhere to ensure peace and reports reaching me from Sagamu, Ilaro and Ijebu-Ode indicate that everything had gone on peacefully. He however warned those who would want to cash in on the strike to cause trouble to desist from such as his men would deal decisively with hoodlums.
The state NLC chairman, Mr. Wale Oduntan, in a statement in Abeokuta yesterday stated "our collective wishes on the sit-at-home protest must be honoured to the letter."
At the state hospital, Ijaiye, doctors on duty chatted away their time, but no nurse was on duty when The Guardian called at 12.30 p.m. The administrative staff were also absent.
A patient at the emergency ward, who gave his name as Waheed, told The Guardian: "I learnt the doctors are on strike and the nurses too. None of them came to work, so I am leaving for a private hospital, since I don't want to die here."
Meanwhile, the state branch of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) in a statement in Abeokuta yesterday asked the Federal Government to be sensitive to the plight of the people by reversing the prices of the petroleum products to the old price.
The statement signed by the association's chairman, Dr. B. R. Adewoye and publicity secretary, Dr. O. E. Jagun, stated: "The Federal Government must act in good faith and with the intention of easing the economic, environmental and mental burden on Nigerians by taking concrete steps to dialogue with the Labour Congress".
Warri and neighbouring Effurun in Delta State were down on their knees yesterday as businesses, especially banks and private firms, shut down operations, including most of the filling stations.
Government establishments, which had allegedly been warned earlier not to join the strike, were equally affected as their activities were in low key.
The National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas (NUPENG) members dressed in white T-shirts and caps drove round Warri in several cars trying to enforce the strike.
At Effurun, members of the National Road Transport Workers Union paralysed activities as they drove in a convoy through major roads at breathtaking speed and then screeching to halt. This scared passers-by. The drivers chanted "Obasanjo must go".
Commercial bike operators and motorists stuck fresh leaves branches on their vehicles in a show of solidarity. The towns were generally charged yesterday.`
