The Speaker of Osun State House of Assembly, Rt.Hon. Adewale Egbedun, has urged students of Osun State Polytechnic Iree, Ospoly, to always choose peace, dialogue and violence-free protests in expressing their yearnings.
Hon. Egbedun, in company of some other lawmakers, made this appeal while addressing aggrieved students of the State Polytechnic who came on protest to the State Assembly Complex.
The students were seen with various placards in their hands with inscriptions like, “Stop Wasting our precious time”, “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest, OSPOLY want to resume now”, Let Ospolites breath, don’t suffocate us”, “Decide today;Not tomorrow” among others.
The Speaker, who agreed to speak to the executive arm of government on behalf of the students stated that while it is good to be the voice of the voiceless, there are ways to go about it without violence and implore them to embrace peace and dialogue.
In his words; “We are part of you. I’m a young man like most of you. I will always try my best to protect your interest. I’ve spoken with the President of the Union this morning and he assured me that its going to be a peaceful protest that’s why I encouraged him.
“I’m going to discuss with the Governor. You can see I’m not the Governor, I’m the Speaker but I promise you and I’m assuring you, I’m speaking on behalf of the Executives that we are going to see to this today and by His grace, it will be resolved.”
In his reaction, the Students Union President, Azeez Adebayo pleaded for the reopening of their school, adding that they do not have issues with the state government.
Adebayo explained that the institution was shut down due to some activities of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnic, ASUP, following the suspension and replacement of the former Rector of the institution and this has led to the postponement of their on-going examinations till further notice.
“Our brains are in a state of dilemma. Imagine writing an exam and suddenly he/she is being stopped from that exam. We have no foodstuffs, we have nowhere to go, we are here in one voice and accord. We won’t leave here until our school is reopened”, he concluded.
