FSS Students-Police Clash: Atiba DPO Finally Speaks

Following the face-off that occurred between the men of the Nigeria Police Force of the Atiba Division and the students of the Federal School of Surveying, Oyo on Tuesday, 13th December, 2016, we were able to reach the two parties involved in the incident and  a report of the students' version was published earlier. 

As promised, a call was put through to the Divisional Police Officer of Atiba Division, SP Sadiq Mana, for a balanced report. Unfortunately, the DPO, who was a principal actor in the incident was not available in the  office but during a telephone conversation that lasted for about 30minutes, he was able to give us a breakdown of the whole palaver. 

Kindly note that what I am writing is based on my discussion with the DPO and not an opinion formed by me. Thanks.

SP Sadiq Mana

After briefly introducing myself to the DPO and stating the reason for my call, a note of eagerness to open up was detected in SP Sadiq's voice. 

He confirmed that the whole issue stated from a food canteen close to the school. He was about eating when the student of the Federal School of Surveying approached him. 

When asked if he had known the boy in the  past, the DPO answered that he actually met the boy once when he came to introduce the popular Ponzi Scheme MMM to him. He said he didn't give him (the student) a positive response when he introduced the scheme to him and I believe this is what made the student mad. 

He said the student walked in and upon sighting him  said "See you, na so so food you sabi chop. You no sabi better thing. Who you be sef. Crazy man! Wetin you wan do? Oya call your people now. Call  anybody make dem come arrest me nah. Useless man!"

Apparently, the DPO was not only baffled but also embarrassed. He pointed out that the student was accompanied by his friend who kept cautioning the boy. He said even customers were also baffled. 

"When the embarrassment was becoming unbearable, I ordered that he should be arrested and taken to the office. When we get to the office, he will tell me what I did wrong to him."

According to the Officer, the student was arrested and taken to the office while he resumed back to his food. 

He went further "Ask those at the canteen. They were all baffled and abusing the student. He was the only one taken away and that is to tell you it was not a personal issue.  His friend who was with him was not arrested. Ask him if he will tell you the truth."

My people, that's  the genesis of the brouhaha. The student was taken into custody truly as also stated by his colleagues.  

If you will recall, according to the students' version, the boy was chained and asked  to weed a portion of  land.  Unfortunately, there was no evidence to either back this up or prove it wrong.

When  I asked the DPO if that actually happened, he denied the claim. He said the boy was not even locked up in the cell. He only told them to take him to the station pending the time he would return there to question his rudeness. 

The DPO said he was still at the food canteen when the President of the FSS Students' Union called him. The President was requesting for the DPO's audience at the station. 

He immediately finished his food and rushed back to the station. According to him, on getting to the station, he sighted a group of about 50 students in front of the Police station shouting and threatening to burn down the station if the guy was not released in 10 minutes. 

This came as a disappointment to the DPO who thought he had a good rapport with the students of the school. He also said that he thought he was only going to meet  and discuss with the President and probably some excos of the union. 

"They were shouting that they wanted to burn down the station. They had petrol and were getting violent. They didn't even ask about the crime the student committed. All they wanted was for me to just release the guy." 

Apparently disturbed that things were going to get out of hands, the DPO said he called for support from the men of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad to disperse the students and prevent damage of public properties. 

According to the students, when the SARS came, tear gas was released and shots fired sporadically at them. Some students picked up cases of the bullets fired at them as evidences.

When I asked if live bullets were used to disperse the protesting students, the DPO also denied it saying that only tear gas and rubber bullets were used. 

"Of course, we used tear gas and only rubber bullets. That is what we use to disperse mobs and we only used them to chase the students back into their school compound. It was not as if we were chasing them around." 

The DPO, who was really angry at the students' attitude stated further that the student who started the issue and others who were caught in the protest were released that same night. 

"Ask the student union president, we released all the boys including the rude guy  although I told them we were going to prosecute them. They are future leaders and were behaving like that. The change must begin with us if we actually wanted a good future." 

"This morning, the school management already apologized to me and they have sent a letter to that effect concerning the students' unruly behavior. I have accepted to drop  the charges against the students and the management promised to set up a disciplinary committee to punish the students."

That was my conversation with the young DPO of Atiba Division, SP Sadiq Mana who claimed he was harassed and insulted by the student of the Federal School of Surveying, Oyo.  

Unfortunately, I still have some begging qquestions; 

1. Was the student under the influence of something when he approached the officer?

2. If the student was not chained, asked to weed and sighted by one of his colleagues, would the students have quickly mobilized themselves and gone wild? 

 

3. If the live bullet casings picked by the students were truly discharged by the police, why would they use such to disperse a group of protesting students? 

Police, FSS Students Clash in Oyo Town

The men of the Nigeria Police Force of the Atiba Divisional Police Station and the students of the Federal School of  Surveying, Oyo, yesterday were involved in a face-off which led to injuries and eventually, the arrest of some of the students of the institution. 

I was alerted this morning of the incident which happened yesterday evening by one of the students who sent me some really disturbing pictures. This, apparently, forced me to visit the scenes and interview the parties involved in the brouhaha to come up with a balanced story. 

My first point of call was to the Federal School of Surveying, Oyo located along Ogbomoso road. On gaining entrance with my three-man crew, we sighted students standing in groups. 

 

Students standing in group discussing the issue

OmoIyaKunmi addressing the student leaders

While some of the students were discussing the event of the previous nights, some were agitating for a protest/reprisal. Immediately, I put a call across to the President-elect of the Students' Union Government who came to  meet us alongside with the outgoing President, Com. Tosin and some other excos of the union. 

After a brief introduction, I demanded for the students' side of the story. 

Kindly note that this is a version of the story established according to the students' reports and some evidences we gathered within the school premises. 

The Students' Version

An HND 2 student of the school (name withheld) allegedly went to eat at a popular food canteen not to far from the school. He was already eating when he started 'bragging' that he shared a close relationship with the DPO of Atiba Police Station and that they often meet to sit down together, eat and gist. 

Unknown to the student who was merely trying to impress other customers nearby, he didn't know the DPO was actually one of the customers in the canteen wearing mufti clothes. 

According to the students' version of the report, the DPO, who was furious and felt insulted by the guy's insulted ordered for a police van and some officers from the station to arrest the student. In a matter of minutes, the guy was whisked away by the police officers to the Atiba Divisional Police station. 

On getting to the station, the student's legs were chained and he was ordered to start cutting grasses in the police compound. It was this sight that attracted one of the students who was passing by the station. He recognized the individual before him as one of his colleagues and he hurriedly ran back to the school, opposite the station, to alert other students and students' union. 

On receiving the news, the students were infuriated and proceeded immediately to the station demanding for the release of one of them. 

At this point, I asked myself these posers;  

Why not demand for an explanation on why one of them was chained and punished? Why were they not patient enough to send their leaders to a round table with the officers to know what crime the guy in question committed? 

The students got furious and, according to witnesses, demanded that the police officers release the student or they burn down the station. 

This escalated into a crisis between the student-protesters and the officers of the Nigeria Police Force. Not only were some students injured and arrested, the Police were also not left unhurt. About thirteen students were arrested in the chaos.

It was this crisis that made the DPO of the Station to summon the presence of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) to assist the police to disperse the students. 

 

One of the seriously injured students

It was getting to around past 7pm when this happened. The SARS men came and according to the students, the armed men descended on them. They released tear gas and shot sporadically. These were some what the students gathered for us to see; 

It was at this point that I was forced to call the DPO of the Atiba Divisional Station to inform him of my intention to visit his office for his side of the story. Immediately I brought up the issue which I referred to as a 'crisis', he was quick to 'correct' me. 

He said, "Its not a crisis. The students were law breakers. And the offenders must be punished. We crave for change but we the future leaders are the ones responsible for breakdowns of law and orders in the society. Its bad! The guy was rude and arrogant. He has already been charged to court and we will see that others arrested also face the wrath of the law. Why will they want to burn down the station? Why?"

When I realized that meeting him  one-on-one would  facilitate proper information, I quickly jumped in. 

"Sir, can I come down to your office now?" he replied that he was traveling to Ibadan and that by 3pm, he would be back to meet me. 

Inspecting the one of the sites of the incident

Unfortunately, a visit to the food canteen where the issue allegedly started yielded no results as the staff were not cooperating with us.

3pm, this afternoon, is when I am waiting to ask the DPO these questions; 

1. Why was the student arrested in the first instance? What crime did he commit?

2. Of what gravity is such crime that the accused was chained immediately and asked to start weeding? 

3. Why were bullets and teargas released on the harmless students? 

I will be right back after the meeting with the DPO, hopefully today, to give the Police version of the story.

Thanks. 

OmoIyaKunmi

08062350129

List of Successful Candidates For Nigeria Police Recruitment Out!

Nigeria Police recruitment list of successful candidates for appointment into the force has been published. The Police Service Commission (PSC) has released the list of successful candidates in the 2016 NPF Recruitment Exercise.

Candidates who participated in the last zonal screening exercise are advice to check their names by following the procedure below;

Visit the PSC websites on: http://psc.gov.ng/join-the-nigeria-police-force.html

Click on the various Cadres to view the list.

How Oyo West Officials Exploit Applicants Over Certificate of Origin

“There is no greater tyranny than that which is perpetrated under the shield of the law and in the name of justice.” ― Montesquieu, The Spirit of the Laws

This revelation of the greed and level of corruption being perpetrated by some officials of the Oyo West Local, Ojongbodu, came into limelight and attracted my attention on the 1st of December, 2016. 

Its heartbreaking to note that while the act of extorting people has been on for a while but it seems everyone sees it as a usual business but in the real sense, its nothing but daylight robbery. 

My Case

With the release of selected applicants for the Federal Government's N-Power Scheme, there was a wild spread information around town that these set of candidates were to submit their credentials to their Local Government Areas as from December 1st, 2016. 

Despite warnings that the info might be a rumour as there was no announcement yet from N-Power, the candidates were eagerly visiting the LGs before the date to make enquiries concerning the documents to be submitted. 

According to my findings, the three LGs in Oyo town requested for different documents from them. While Oyo East Lg was only collecting the printouts of the applicants' data, Atiba collected only one of the printouts and Oyo West requested for Passport photographs, the 3 printouts and mandated the applicants to present their LG Certificate of Origin. 

Here is where I am having issues with the officials. 

One of my sources (names withheld), a non-indigene of Oyo town, who was posted to Oyo West Lg visited the secretariat on Thursday, December 1st, to submit her documents to the official. 

According to her, when she got there, her documents were rejected because she could not produce a Certificate of Origin that reflects Oyo West Local Government. Despite attempts to inform them that she was not from the Lg but was only posted to, the officers in charge insisted that she must produce a Certificate of Origin bearing Oyo West Local Government. 

Hmmm... 

The lady was directed to another department to obtain the certificate and she was shocked when they charged her a sum of One thousand and six hundred naira (N1,600). 

The confused applicant, apparently with nothing close to that amount on her, left the secretariat to borrow the amount demanded. She returned a little while after she raised this fee and paid to the department. 

When this got to my attention, not only was I heartbroken but the outrageous fee demanded infuriated me. 

A look at the receipts (she was issued two receipts) got me reeling in laughter. Kindly check the pictures; 

1. The first one bears One thousand Naira (N1,000) as payment for the identification fee. The receipt was issued under 'General receipt' and it doesn't bear the LG's name.

2. The second receipt was issued under 'Radio and Television Licence' (laughing) and it bears 'OYO LOCAL GOVERNMENT'. You  surely know what this means, Oyo Local Government ceased  to exist a long while ago. 

If I may ask, of what relevance is a 'Radio and Television Licence' to someone who applied for a Certificate of Origin?

Why is the first receipt not bearing the Lg name but 'General Receipt' instead?  Anyone could have issued that out. What is the guarantee that the fee goes into the Lg treasury? 

Where is the N500 balance? The applicant paid N1,600 and only 'receipts' of N1,100 were issued to her. Doesn't that tell us something? 

Why are the officials forcing non-indigents of the Lg to apply and pay for the 'Certificate of Origin' against their wishes? 

The last time I checked, issuance of this certificate is done when the applicant had proved beyond reasonable  doubts that he/she is from the Lg and even in some  LGs, you will have to produce a letter of attestation from the Councillor representing the ward the applicant is from. 

These were the queries I put to the Caretaker Chairman of Oy West Lg, Hon. Bisi Oladeji, during a  phone conversation. He denied knowing about the scheme and told me he was going to get back to me. After 24hours, I have not heard from the council boss. 

Hon. Bisi Oladeji, Oyo West Caretaker Chairman

My people, we can only get rid of the evils and injustices in our society if we speak out and fight against them only.The acts of extorting innocents citizens by some officials of the Oyo West Lg has been going on for a while and it has got to stop!

I implore all political office holders representing this constituency, vibrant social crusaders and others who will always stand against injustices to come around and demand for a full probe into the activities of these greedy and callous officials. 

I have spoken.

OmoIyaKunmi

08062350129