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Secondary school pupils in Ibadan went on rampage today to protest alleged plans by the Oyo State government to privatise their schools.
Apart from shutting down schools and major roads in the city, the protesters stormed the secretariat of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oke Ado area of the city.
The protesters, armed with cudgels and other dangerous weapons attacked the building and those in it, causing huge damage.
The party has however reacted to the attack.
In a statement issued Monday afternoon, the party said “some pupils in their scores had been mobilized out of their respective classrooms in some public secondary schools in Ibadan- the state capital on Monday morning by a group of ‘politician-teachers sympathetic to the Accord Party’ and moved round the city with cudgels, broken bottles and other dangerous weapons as they chanted political and anti-government songs”
The statement, signed by the Director of Publicity and Strategy, Olawale Sadare, reads further:
“The APC fingered the opposition elements and some members of the labour movement in the state as the sponsor of the hoodlums which attacked its members at the Oke-Ado State Secretariat of the ruling party and also vandalized properties estimated at several millions of Naira.
“At about few minutes past eleven in the morning, hoodlums which comprised of some public secondary school students as well as some disgruntled members of the NLC/NUT and the opposition party- Accord stormed our party State Secretariat at Oke-Ado and began to vandalize everything on sight. They also beat up some members of staff who had to be treated for varying degrees of injury sustained in the hands of the attackers before they were dispersed by the security agents.
“The attacking hoodlums were harmed with stones, broken-bottles, cudgels, cutlasses and other dangerous weapons with which they attacked innocent people on sight and vandalize the entire properties harboring the Executive members and staff of the APC as well as some private business interests. Yet-to-be estimated valuables were either destroyed or looted during the attacks which lasted about 30 minutes.
“The leadership of our great party is still in shock over the development because nobody had expected a replica of the kind of violent political attacks of the days of the PDP in the state between 2003 and 2011 to resurface following the laudable handling of security issues by the present administration of Gov. Ajimobi. Meanwhile, this particular incident stands condemned in all its ramifications while we appeal for calm among the peace loving people of the state who were also disturbed by the antics of the regrouping miscreants.
“We, therefore, call on the State Police Command and other security agencies to investigate the incident thoroughly with a view to bringing the perpetrators and their sponsors to book. On the other hand, we make a passionate appeal to the labour movement and other concerned groups to sheathe their sword and toe the line of dialogue, which is popular in every democratic society like ours, in resolving whatever issues they might have with the state government.”
