45 Sokoto students escape lynching in Ibadan | EduCeleb
EduCeleb
10th November 2020
When forty-five students of Lead City University, Ibadan, who hail from Sokoto State left their home state, little did they know what stood ahead of them on arriving Ibadan.
They escaped being burnt to death in a luxurious bus that conveyed them to the Oyo State capital on Monday.
The students are among the beneficiaries of a scholarship initiative by a former governor of the state, Senator Aliyu Wamakko.
It took the intervention of the leadership of Community Development Association (CDA) and Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) at Itesiwaju, New Felele, Soka Ibadan, to prevent some angry youths from attacking the luxurious bus, based on false information that circulated that they are Boko Haram insurgents, terrorists or Fulani herdsmen.
The bus was said to have been stopped at Itesiwaju Maje Gate in Soka community, in Oluyole Local Government Area on Monday.
Nigeria Police in Oyo State put the number of occupants at thirty but the university differed on the figure put at forty-five. number of occupants in the
The luxurious bus was said to have been fully tinted when seen.
The elders of the community were said to have reported the suspicious movement to the Sanyo Divisional Police headquarters.
As a result, a team of policemen went to Soka community and escorted the luxurious bus and the occupants to their station.
They were said to have told the police that they are newly admitted students of the university.
The Divisional Police Officer, Tajudeen Olawuwo, reportedly called the Registrar of the university, Dr Oyebola Ayeni, who confirmed that they were new students of the institution.
The Director, Corporate Affairs and Communication of the Lead City University, Dr Ayobami Owolabi, in a telephone chat confirmed the incident.
He stated that the new students were driven to Soka community because their coordinators had secured accommodation for them in the community, adding that the residents of the community might have raised the suspicion based on the insecurity in the country.
The Police Public Relations Officer for the state, Olugbenga Fadeyi, a Superintendent of Police, also confirmed the incident dispelling rumours that the occupants of the luxurious bus were Boko Haram insurgents or Fulani herdsmen as widely speculated.
Fadeyi stated further that the DPO said he went to the university for confirmation of their identities, adding that the university confirmed their studentship.