The management of the Osun State Polytechnic (OSPOLY), Iree, on Saturday ordered the closure of the institution following a violent protest by the students over the death of a Higher National Diploma (HND) 1 student, identified as Hammed Aminu.
Aminu, a student in the Department of Applied Chemistry had on Friday slumped in the examination hall and later died in the school’s medical clinic.
The immediate closure of the institution was contained in a press statement signed by its Public Relations Officer (PRO), Mr Tope Abiola, which was obtained by Tribune Online in Osogbo.
The irate students, who stormed the clinic on Saturday morning, alleged that there was no medical personnel at the clinic to attend to Hammed when he was rushed to the clinic.
During the protest, the school’s ambulance, drugs and equipment in the clinic were torched by the students.
Reacting over the students’ protest, Abiola, said that apart from the burnt clinic, property worth millions of naira were also destroyed by the students, adding that drugs, equipment, vehicles as well as medical facilities were razed down by the inferno.
He, however, said it was not true that there was no medical personnel to attend to Hammed when he was brought to the clinic.
Abiola further explained that when Hammed was rushed to the school clinic at about 4:30 p.m. on Friday, medical personnel on duty made frantic efforts to resuscitate him but to no avail, stressing that deceased was immediately referred to another hospital in the town where he eventually died.
“He stated that “it is very shocking to us that the institution would lose such a precious soul. He slumped shortly after writing his examination in the hall and he was immediately rushed to the school clinic.
“He was a Muslim and he was observing the Ramadan fasting. He might have slumped, due to loss of stamina. He was buried on Friday evening in his hometown, Oba’agun, a community close to Iree. We sympathise with his family and we pray to God to console them”, Abiola remarked.
He, however, said the closure of the institution was to forestall breakdown of law and order on campus, saying all students have been directed to vacate the campus with immediate effect.