UNILAG: 3 injured as students, police clash

The police fired tear gas to disperse the students. In the melee that followed, a female student simply identified as Funmi, who studies at the institution’s department of English, reportedly fainted and was rushed to the varsity’s hospital. Two other unidentified students were also reported to have been injured while the crisis lasted.   “We […]

The police fired tear gas to disperse the students. In the melee that followed, a female student simply identified as Funmi, who studies at the institution’s department of English, reportedly fainted and was rushed to the varsity’s hospital. Two other unidentified students were also reported to have been injured while the crisis lasted.

 

“We only gathered at the main entrance, but the police said we should return to the campus. We felt that was an infringement on our rights. Because we ignored them, they started firing tear gas at us and in the process three of our student fainted,” Jide Badejoko, one of the protesting students, said.

Meanwhile, the varsity chapter of Academic Staff Union of University (ASUU) said it has sued the Federal Government over the rename of UNILAG after MKO Abiola. This is just as graduates of the university under the aegis, UNILAG alumni association and the university’s parents’ forum rejected the rename of the institution after the late business mogul, Chief MKO Abiola.

The alumni and parent associations made known their grievances through separate statements made available to Weekly Trust in Lagos. In a related development, however, the Lagos State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Ade Ipaye, said the Federal Government has power to change the name of University of Lagos (UNILAG) to whatever name it wishes. He made this disclosure at a one-day capacity building workshop for Judiciary correspondents organised by the National Association of Judiciary Correspondents (NAJUC) in Lagos.