How female football match turned bloody in Ibadan Poly

AKINWALE ABOLUWADE reports that a friendly sporting competition between students of two different faculties of The Polytechnics Ibadan, apart from leading to school closure, has also led to the dissolution of its Students Union with other painful consequences

It was a football competition turned bloody for students of The Polytechnic Ibadan. What started as an entertaining football match between female teams on Wednesday evening erupted into a bloody clash leaving casualties in its trail.

Hundreds of students of the polytechnic who watched the football  tournament with upbeat emotion at the  Sports Pavilion, North Campus of the institution were initially said to be throwing banters until a side got upset.

Saturday Tribune learnt that the football match between the Faculty of Engineering (FENG), Ibadan Polytechnic and their counterparts from the Faculty of Business and Communications Studies (FCBS) Queens became controversial when arguments ensued between supporters of the two sides.

The FENG Queens were said to have trounced the FCBS female students in the 90-minute annual inter-faculty football competition with a two to nil score margin.

The bloody unrest that followed that match on Wednesday led to the closure of the school for one week the following day.

During Saturday Tribune’s visit to the institution on Thursday, academic activities had paralysed as students were seen moving their luggage out of the campus. The main entrances of the institution were heavily manned by armed security men from the Oyo State Police Command.

Eyewitnesses at the scene said crisis ensued as some engineering students of the school were enraged by supporters of the opposing team who were abusing and throwing satchet water at them.

What started as a subtle threat escalated into fierce fighting with students throwing punches at one another. Students of the North campus where the match was played were said to have initially overpowered their colleagues from the South Campus with many reportedly wounded in the fight.The sports director, National Association of Polytechnic engineering Students (NAPES), Ibadan Polytechnic chapter, Tobi Oyeniyi, was reportedly stabbed in the head in the process.

The mob was also said to have beaten and injured many other students at the sports arena. The atmosphere became more chaotic as the two opposing sides wielding sticks and stones engaged themselves heated fight.

Eyewitnesses said students from the south campus, who had allegedly gone to reinforce by bringing in more supporters, besieged the north campus and brutalised innocent students who were taking evening classes.

Some of the embattled students at the north campus reportedly scampered for safety as they were being attacked. A student of the polytechnic, who did not want his name in print, said Oyeniyi was rushed to the school clinic for treatment. He said the engineering students were losing the match with a margin of two goals to nil.

He said: “Things were still going on well in the course of the match until the FBCS supporters started mocking the supporters of the opposing side. They began to throw sachet water at their opponents.“

After the match, some female students of the engineering department were allegedly harassed. Their male colleagues came to defend the ladies, hence the fight became heated in the process .“The fight was uncalled for. Oyeniyi was stabbed in the head. He was rushed to the medical centre for treatment. Supporters of the winning team were the ones that started the fight.”

A National Diploma One Science Laboratory Technology student of the polytechnic, who sustained a head injury in the fisticuffs, speaking under the condition of anonymity, said he was having a lecture in one of the classrooms on the north campus when a mob attacked them.

He said: “I know that fight broke out on the field where the football match was played but I was not there. We heard that the teams and their students’ supporters had a fight but we thought that it was already over. We didn’t know that the angry students had gone to mobilise their mates on a vengeance mission. We were having a lecture when we heard some noise from a distance.“

Before we knew what was happening they had swooped on us. I tried to run away but unluckily, I stumbled and fell on the ground. They attacked me and started beating me. It was a reprisal attack; they were out to beat any student from the north campus. I was not the only one that was injured. Several others were also brutalised and injured.”

Saturday Tribune gathered that the Faculty of Engineering students, who trooped out in hundreds in protest against the attack, barricaded all entrances of the institution on Thursday. They were carrying placards and singing protest songs against the attack on their colleagues.

When contacted, the Public Relations Officer of the Polytechnic, Alhaji Soladoye Adewole, expressed worries about the violent clash by the students saying it was not a face-off between the students and the management.

Adewole,  describing the actions as overreaction on both sides, said: “The students were protesting against the attacks on fellow students resulting from a football match between students of the two faculties. The football match between the two faculties ended in crisis. In response to that, the school authority has taken a decisive step by asking the students to proceed on mid-semester break.”

A press release dated April 4, signed by the Registrar, Modupe Fawale, titled ‘Poly management closes school for mid-semester break’, said the authority of The Polytechnic Ibadan had closed down the institution stressing that “students are to proceed on break immediately.“

The students are to resume for studies on Wednesday April 10, 2019. All students are to vacate the halls of residence immediately. The police have been invited to ensure smooth vacation of from the institution and prevent breach of peace.“

Parents and guardians are advised to request their children and wards to return home immediately as the management of the institution will not be responsible for the care of any student during the mid-semester break”.A text message which went viral among the students, allegedly emanating from the management, indicated that “The management of the Polytechnic Ibadan has placed an immediate ban on Students Union activities in the school.”

Attempts to get reactions from executive members of the disbanded students union was unsuccessful at press time. However, some students of the school, who spoke anonymously, described the ban on unionism in the school as unwarranted saying the union had no link with the protest that rocked the institution.