The student community in Ogun state weekend met with the Commissioner of Police, Kenneth Ebrimson to vent their grievances over alleged ill treatment of students by operatives of the command.
The student community, comprising representatives of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), National Association of Ogun State Students (NAOSS), National Association of Polytechnic Students (NAPS), among others met with Ebrimson in his office at the command’s headquarters, Eleweran, Abeokuta, the state capital.
The meeting was facilitated by the state government through the office of the special assistant to the governor on student matters, Comrade Azeez Adeyemi.
The students lamented the unlawful arrest, harassment and intimidation of students in the state, stating that many of them had lost confidence in the ability of the police to protect them.
They also accused the police of alleged constant victimisation, oppression and violation of their fundamental human rights.The students said many of them had been arrested by the police who often accused them of being internet fraudsters, popularly known as “yahoo yahoo boys.”
National vice president of NANS, Ojo Raymond, alleged that the police had a targeted hatred towards the students, saying “the police are oppressing and victimising students.”
On his part, the president of the state chapter of NANS, Tomiwa Bamgbose, stated that students are agents of peace and progress “and should not be treated like animals.”
Bamgbose accused police of “illegal extortion” of students and extortion of commercial drivers of campus shuttles which in turn leads to transport fee hike in campuses.
Special assistant on students matters, Azeez Adeyemi in his remarks, said the meeting was held on the directive of Governor Abiodun, who according to him is a peace loving Governor who wants peace in all parts of the State.
He appealed to the police boss to curtail the excesses of his men in the state and see students as partners in progress and agents of peace instead perceiving the students as police enemies.
But Ebrimson while responding to the students dissociated his men from their allegations, saying “some people have just made up their minds to give the police a bad name and hang it.”
The commissioner attributed the cause of major violent crimes in the society to cultism, insisting that the greatest security challenge confronting the state is cultism.
He said student leaders must support the police with vital information that would help in fighting cultism and other criminal acts in the state.
