Reps to probe alleged assault on UNIOSUN students by Air Force personnel

The House of Representatives has mandated its Committee on Air Force to investigate the allegations of assault on students and staff of Ipetu-Ijesa campus of the Osun State University by some officers of the Nigerian Air Force Safety Institute, Ipetu-Ijesa, and report  within six weeks for further legislative action.

The House resolution followed a motion sponsored by Honourable Oluwole Oke, entitled, ‘Need to Investigate the Invasion of Ipetu-Ijesa Campus of Osun State University and Assault on Students and Staff by Personnel of the Nigerian Air Force Safety Institute, Ipetu-Ijesa, Osun State’.

According to him, “on Tuesday, 23 May, 2017, personnel of the Nigerian Air Force Safety Institute, Ipetu-Ijesa, Osun State, invaded the Ipetu-Ijesa campus of the university and used guns, clubs, knives and other lethal weapons to attack students and staff of the university, leaving numerous persons severely injured and later hospitalised.

He noted that as a result of the fear and apprehension that gripped the university community following the assault, the university had to be closed down for a week and the students were forced to embark on unplanned journeys that subjected them to avoidable hazards and inconveniences.

The action of the personnel of the Air Force, he said, was a throwback to the abusive patterns and behaviours of security forces during the military era and amounted to a gross violation of the right to the dignity of the human person enshrined in Section 34 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999.

According to the lawmaker, “If urgent steps are not taken to address these concerns, security personnel could become emboldened to indiscriminate use of force to settle personal scores, which will lead to a breakdown of law and civilized behaviour that govern the society.”

The chairman of the House Committee on Air Force, Hon. Samson Okwu, during the consideration of the motion, told the House that the Air Force had already settled the case; however, instead of an ad hoc committee earlier proposed by the sponsor of the motion, the committee on Air Force was asked to carry out the investigation.

The motion scaled through when the deputy speaker, Honourable Lasun Yusuf, put it to voice vote.