CDHR/CACOL condemns brigandage, vandalism during FCE., Akoka, protest

The Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) and the Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership (CACOL) on Wednesday condemned the spate of violence that engulfed the Campus of the Federal College of Education (Technical) Akoka, Lagos.

The groups in a statement by the Director of Administration and Programmes of CACOL, Tola Oresanwo, on behalf CDHR President and CACOL’s Chairman, Debo Adeniran, remarked: “It was reported by some media outfits that the prolonged crisis rocking the Federal College of Education, Technical (FCET), Akoka, degenerated into violence on Monday when some workers and students reportedly attacked the Chairman of the Governing Council of the institution, Olatunde Adenuga, and other council members, vandalising cars and other property worth millions of naira.”

The groups noted that the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the Lagos State Command, SP Ben Hundeyin, confirmed the development in a post on X even as he revealed that 32 persons have been arrested in connection with the violence. The police spokesperson said the rioting staff and students initially blocked all entrances in and out of the college and attacked the police with stones and sachets of water as they arrived at the scene of the riot.

According to the groups, “We are aware that some disgruntled workers of the College allegedly locked up their Provost’s office and issued him a quit notice from his official residence. Led by a few members of the Senior Staff Union of Colleges of Education (SSUCOEN), FCET chapter, the protesters insisted that with the amendment of the Educational Colleges Act 2023, which introduced a five-year single term of office for provosts and other principal officers of the colleges, the tenure of Dr. Wahab Azeez had ended on 26 May, 2024.”

However, the provost asserted that he was appointed for the first term of four years in 2019 and that having been duly reappointed by the institution’s governing council in 2023, he already resumed his second term in office on 27 May 2023 before the amended act was signed into law on June 12, 2023.

Following letters by the unions seeking clarification on the tenure of office of the provost based on the amended act, the Minister wrote the unions in May, affirming the legality of Dr. Azeez’s second term of four years. However, the protesters ignored the minister’s verdict and stubbornly continued to stage unjustified daily protests on the campus, denying management members access to their offices, the groups stated.

The Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) and the Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership (CACOL), accordingly, declared: “We are worried that the crisis rocking the institution of learning still lingers till now despite all the peace moves initiated by various stakeholders. More worrisome is the fact that the students of the institution have been drafted into the crisis thereby turning the campus into a battlefield of some sort.

“We had earlier issued a statement calling on the Minister of Education to swiftly intervene in the crisis. If the Provost is not allowed to perform his official duties optimally, it is the tax payers money that is being wasted since both the Provost and the staff that are spearheading the crisis will still be entitled to their salaries and allowances even when the aggrieved staff were only representing personal interests as they are not in any way duty bound to do what they are doing that’s disrupting academic and other activities of the College against the advice of the Ministry of Education and other legal authorities.

“We do not expect the Minister to allow his wise counsel to be thrown overboard just as the security agencies are not expected to allow such illegality to continue unchecked, especially when the Ministry, backed by extant legal instruments, has confirmed it that the Provost still has a term of office to execute.

“We also cautioned the security agencies not to allow the skirmish to degenerate into full blown violence which may lead to bodily harm, loss of limbs or even lives before they react to douse the attendant damages to lives and public property. Unfortunately, that is exactly what is happening now. We therefore hereby advise that they should not facilitate any further disruption of academic and administrative activities and put machinery in motion to restore peace on the college campus forthwith.

“We would like to use this medium to condemn in strong terms the act of brigandage and violence that has engulfed the institution. We believe that as one of the institutions of higher learning of repute in the country, students of the Federal College of Education (Technical), Akoka, ought to be found worthy in character and learning and not involved in any violent activities whatsoever. The academic and non-academic staff of the institution also should be the epitome of cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains of learning which they are expected to impart in the students and not involving them in unnecessary politicking.

“Finally, we would urgently call on the Minister of Education to swiftly intervene in the crisis rocking the institution which has already affected academic and administrative activities on the campus. The minister should realize that it will be a negative advertisement and record as well as a stain on his CV if he fails to resolve the dispute immediately. He should brace himself up, put all arsenals in place to call all warring factions to order and iron out grey areas that all parties would agree on as the opposite will be an ill-wind that blows no one any good.”