Pandemonium broke out, yesterday, when students of Olabisi Onabanjo
University, Ago-Iwoye stormed the premises of the company which they
believed owned the truck that killed their colleagues, pouncing on the
workers and destroying property.
The grieving students had visited the scene of the accident, a stone’s throw from the company to pay their last respects to 11 students of the institution who lost their lives to the accident.
The students became agitated when they observed that the company, whose driver reportedly caused the accident was still working and loading products even when some dead bodies were still lying in the morgue of various hospitals.
Eleven students of the institution and a driver had lost their lives during the accident that occurred along Benin-Sagamu expressway in Sagamu Local Government area of the state on Friday when the students were traveling from the school to Sango-Ota.
The protesting students, all dressed in black arrived the scene of the crash in a convoy of several long and small buses and carried placards such as: ‘We demand justice for the lost souls’; ‘OOU mourns’; ‘OOU weeps’; ‘OOU cries’; ‘A future lawyer is gone!’; ‘Fresh graduate gone!; ‘We’ve lost our scientists’; ‘OOUITES are not chickens. Stop giving us phobia’; ‘Police, FRSC, TRACE must be probed’.
They wailed and wept profusely, hauled curses on the trailer driver and the manufacturing company that owns the consignment of raw materials in the container.
For about three hours, hundreds of the students barricaded the expressway while the police who were fully on guard controlled traffic.
After leaving the accident scene where they had gone to pray for the departed souls, the students retired to the company and vandalized no fewer than 11 trailers within the premises.
Several pleas by policeman and other security agents to persuade the students not to storm the premises of the company fell on deaf ears.
Upon their arrival at the gate to the company, the students over-powered the men manning the entrance and forced the gates open.
Workers and management of the plastic manufacturing company, along the Sagamu/Benin expressway scampered to safety.
They also vandalized some of the company’s offices and buildings, breaking window panes.
A fully-loaded trailer belonging to Dangote Cement had earlier incurred the wrath of the students when the driver defied diversion order by policemen and was driving towards the already barricaded road.
The trailer with registration number GWW 156 XA was vandalised while the driver and his motor boy ran for their lives as the angry students approached.
Earlier at the scene of the crash, the students formed a ring as they held hands, held prayer sessions and observed a minute silence for the repose of the souls of their dead colleagues.
The prayer sessions were conducted in both Christian and islamic ways.
Meanwhile, the students have appealed to the state government and other public-spirited persons to compensate the families of their colleagues who died in last Friday’s crash.
President of OOU Students’ Union Government, Adenola Adegbesan disclosed this while speaking at the scene of the accident.
Adegbesan said although no amount of money could compensate for the lives of the victims, it would give succour to their depressed relatives.
The OOU SUG president also called on the state government to assist the victims’ families in the burial of their dead colleagues.
Adegbesan however issued a seven-day ultimatum to the police and the owners of the truck involved in the accident to produce the driver who fled the scene after the tragedy.
He also advised government to regulate the movement of trucks on the highways by restricting their operations to the night times only.
Meanwhile, OOU Corporate Affairs Manager, Mr Niyi Oduwole described the accident as unfortunate and sad.
Oduwole however disclosed that in order to commiserate with the students mourning their deceased colleagues, the institution has declared yesterday and today lecture-free.
“We at OOU deeply symphatise with the parents and relatives of the deceased over the untimely deaths of their wards. The management has decided to postpone exams today and tomorrow to honour their souls while we have concluded arrangements to visit the families involved. We admonish all road users to always obey traffic rules and follow road signs so that such occurrences like these would be averted,” he said.
The grieving students had visited the scene of the accident, a stone’s throw from the company to pay their last respects to 11 students of the institution who lost their lives to the accident.
The students became agitated when they observed that the company, whose driver reportedly caused the accident was still working and loading products even when some dead bodies were still lying in the morgue of various hospitals.
Eleven students of the institution and a driver had lost their lives during the accident that occurred along Benin-Sagamu expressway in Sagamu Local Government area of the state on Friday when the students were traveling from the school to Sango-Ota.
The protesting students, all dressed in black arrived the scene of the crash in a convoy of several long and small buses and carried placards such as: ‘We demand justice for the lost souls’; ‘OOU mourns’; ‘OOU weeps’; ‘OOU cries’; ‘A future lawyer is gone!’; ‘Fresh graduate gone!; ‘We’ve lost our scientists’; ‘OOUITES are not chickens. Stop giving us phobia’; ‘Police, FRSC, TRACE must be probed’.
They wailed and wept profusely, hauled curses on the trailer driver and the manufacturing company that owns the consignment of raw materials in the container.
For about three hours, hundreds of the students barricaded the expressway while the police who were fully on guard controlled traffic.
After leaving the accident scene where they had gone to pray for the departed souls, the students retired to the company and vandalized no fewer than 11 trailers within the premises.
Several pleas by policeman and other security agents to persuade the students not to storm the premises of the company fell on deaf ears.
Upon their arrival at the gate to the company, the students over-powered the men manning the entrance and forced the gates open.
Workers and management of the plastic manufacturing company, along the Sagamu/Benin expressway scampered to safety.
They also vandalized some of the company’s offices and buildings, breaking window panes.
A fully-loaded trailer belonging to Dangote Cement had earlier incurred the wrath of the students when the driver defied diversion order by policemen and was driving towards the already barricaded road.
The trailer with registration number GWW 156 XA was vandalised while the driver and his motor boy ran for their lives as the angry students approached.
Earlier at the scene of the crash, the students formed a ring as they held hands, held prayer sessions and observed a minute silence for the repose of the souls of their dead colleagues.
The prayer sessions were conducted in both Christian and islamic ways.
Meanwhile, the students have appealed to the state government and other public-spirited persons to compensate the families of their colleagues who died in last Friday’s crash.
President of OOU Students’ Union Government, Adenola Adegbesan disclosed this while speaking at the scene of the accident.
Adegbesan said although no amount of money could compensate for the lives of the victims, it would give succour to their depressed relatives.
The OOU SUG president also called on the state government to assist the victims’ families in the burial of their dead colleagues.
Adegbesan however issued a seven-day ultimatum to the police and the owners of the truck involved in the accident to produce the driver who fled the scene after the tragedy.
He also advised government to regulate the movement of trucks on the highways by restricting their operations to the night times only.
Meanwhile, OOU Corporate Affairs Manager, Mr Niyi Oduwole described the accident as unfortunate and sad.
Oduwole however disclosed that in order to commiserate with the students mourning their deceased colleagues, the institution has declared yesterday and today lecture-free.
“We at OOU deeply symphatise with the parents and relatives of the deceased over the untimely deaths of their wards. The management has decided to postpone exams today and tomorrow to honour their souls while we have concluded arrangements to visit the families involved. We admonish all road users to always obey traffic rules and follow road signs so that such occurrences like these would be averted,” he said.
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