AAUA tuition crisis: Why we arrested protesting students — Police

The police in Ondo State have confirmed the arrest of 46 students of the Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko, (AAUA), as well as some parents as the protest against the hike in tuition entered day three.

Police Public Relations Officer, Femi Joseph, said the arrested persons would be charged to court.

Some of the students who spoke with journalists said the police opened fire and shot teargas at them at the entrance of the Government Office in Alagbaka during the protest.

But the police spokesman said the students attacked the vehicles of top government officials as they made their way to their offices in the morning.

Meanwhile, the Commissioner for Information, Yemi Olowolabi, has accused politicians of hijacking the protest by the students.

Mr Olowolabi had earlier explained the reasons for the hike in the tuition for the institution, and had called for calm as the state governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, “found solutions to the disagreements”.

Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Grassroots Mobilisers, Ondo state chapter, has decried the arrest as a show of insensitivity to the plight of the people of the state.

A statement by the coordinator of the group, Kunle Ajibogun, called on the state government and the police to quickly release the arrested students and market women.

The PDP group also called for the review of the hiked fees in order to allow peace to reign in the state.

“We therefore call on the present administration in Ondo state under the leadership of Oluwarotimi Akeredolu to rise up to the occasion and stop been docile in governance,” the statement partly read.

“Those arrested students and market women should be released. Governor Akeredolu is keeping silence on the matter and playing politics with lives and future of the citizenry.

“The current situation in the state needs quick intervention of all genuine and reasonable leaders to save the situation.”