Students from Ondo State tertiary institutions protesting over the continued strike action of the University lecturers were on Tuesday dispersed by military men travelling on the highway, who had gathered on the Akure-Ilesha road to begin their second day of protest.
The angry students who started the protest on Monday, barricaded the Akure-Ilesa Expressway in Akure, the state capital, preventing vehicular movements and causing a traffic logjam for several hours.
While the protesting students and residents of the area scampered to safety, some residents hurriedly shut their doors and windows even as shop owners closed for business.
According to an eyewitness, who said the military men in camouflage, who were travelling along the road in a convoy of their vehicles met the expressway barricaded by the protesters.
He explained that the military men, after talking to the students to clear the road to enable them to pass and the students refused to clear the road, shot into the air and dispersed the protesters, cleared the road and went on their way.
He said “When the soldiers got to the scene and met the road barricaded, some of them came down to speak with the students but they (students) refused to open the road.
“Suddenly, the soldiers shot sporadically into the air to disperse the protesters. Many people around the area also ran helter-skelter for safety. After that, the soldiers cleared the road and their vehicles passed.”
The eyewitness, however, noted that nobody was killed in the minor fracas but said the identity of the military cannot be ascertained at the time of filing this report, but some said they were soldiers while some identified them as men of the Nigeria Airforce.
After the security agents had left, students gathered themselves together and continued the protest.
But one of the protesters, who identified himself as Ola told our correspondent that the military men were deliberately sent to the scene to disrupt the protest.
He said, “We are holding our peaceful protest, we were not violent, the policemen were with us, the Amotekun people were also at the scene, we didn’t disturb them, they didn’t disturb us.
“Suddenly the uniformed men just came and asked us to stop the protest, they were shooting us, they want to kill us.
“That is part of what Buhari is doing to Nigeria, we will not relent, let them come tomorrow and kill us. They are enemies of progress, they are enemies of Nigeria, God will punish them.”
When contacted, the Police Public Relations of the state, Mrs Funmilayo Odunlami confirmed the incident but said she could not comment on the issue because it did not involve the men of the state police command.
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