ASUU Strike: Soldiers Allegedly Disrupt OAU Students Protest As Ife-Ilesa Express Way Barricaded

By Segun Ojo, Osogbo

A Convoy of about five Soldiers on Wednesday were alleged to have forcefully disrupted the protest embarked upon by the students axis of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, in reaction to the ongoing strike action by members of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) as the two lanes of Ife-Ilesa Express Ways were barricaded for motorists to ply.

The praotesters had staged the protest along Ife/Ilesha/ Akure expressway by mounting barricades on the two lanes of the roads.

The mounted barricades close to Oduduwa University roundabout and also at the Moro end of expressway there making it difficult for motorists to manoeuvre the route.

At 2:45 PM, a convoy led by soldiers ran into the protest at the Oduduwa University end of the road, but the students insisted that the convoy would not pass but the military men forced their way through the barricades by dismantling it.

Speaking with an eyewitness, the Nigeria Association of University Students(NAUS) Ayobami Eruobami, said, “The soldiers threatened to kill us for not allowing them to pass on the expressway. They wanted us to use their gun that really scared some of our people at the barricades. They forced their way through the barricades but we reconvened after they left to continue the protest.”