Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi addressed Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) students protesting against the eight-month closure of the university.
But rather than have a constructive discussion about the problems at the university, Ajimobi turned it into another shameless display of hubris, the arrogance of power and Nigerian “democrazy”. The address was an insult-fest, with Ajimobi telling the students to “go and do their worst” and at one point asked his security detail to arrest some of them.
Watch the show of shame:
He asked “so what” if the university was closed and it is not the first time a university is shut down. Needless to mention that his children study abroad. The governor carried on like he was doing the students a favour by addressing them. This was like a reprise of then President Olusegun Obasanjo telling victims of the Lagos armoury explosions that they should shut up and he wasn’t supposed to be there.
LAUTECH, jointly owned by Oyo and Osun states, has been closed down since June 13 last year, after protests by students over the results of student union elections and the refusal of the university’s branch of the Academic Staff Union of University, ASUU, to submit examinations papers unless they were paid their outstanding salaries and other allowances.
