Tragedy struck last night at the University of Ibadan, Oyo State, when a 200 level student of the Department of Human Kinetics and Health Education, Muslihudeen Mayowa Alaran slumped while watching the European Champions League first leg semi-final match between Barcelona of Spain and visiting Bayern Munich.
This led to a violent protest by students of the University of Ibadan which shut down commercial activities in the Agbowo Area of Ibadan
The angry students trooped to the main road of the Institution’s gate barricading the main road and calling on the school’s management to urgently address welfare issues concerning students as well as a total overhaul of the school’s clinic.
Reacting to the protest, the Registrar of the University of Ibadan, Mr. Olujimi Olukoya appealed for calm and asked for 48hrs to conduct thorough investigation on the matter.
He appealed to the students not to take laws into their hands, as no student has the right to block the main road or breach the peace in their environment.
An eyewitness told Channels Television that the deceased suffocated and slumped in the Junior Common Room (JCR) of Independence Hall, where other students were watching the match.
The hall was said to have been overcrowded and stuffy which consequently resulted to his death.
However, students around Alaran were said to have performed a mouth-to-mouth respiration after he fainted, after which he was immediately rushed to the school clinic, Jaja, but gave up shortly after he was given first aid.
Some of the protesters who spoke to journalists blamed his death on the negligence of the health centre workers, saying that was not the first time a student has died due to the attitude of the nurses at the health centre.
Policemen and members of State Security Service were on ground to prevent the situation from degenerating but they could not prevent the molestation of one the journalists covering the protest; a New Telegraph reporter, Mr. Sola Adeyemo, who was physically assaulted by the protesters and stripped naked.
Mr. Adeyemo, who was severely beaten by the students while taking photographs of students who mounted road blocks at the main entrance to the institution, was however, rescued by the policemen on identifying himself as a journalist.
Meanwhile, academic activities has resumed while the remains of the deceased has been buried at Abeokuta, his hometown, according to Islamic burial rites.
