Institution declares three-day mourning, beefs security, assures parents on safety
Twelve suspects have been arrested over the death of Akor Alex, a 200-level Mechanical Engineering student of Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo town.
The 22-year-old was killed by his colleagues on Friday over an alleged phone theft.
The Vice Chancellor (VC), Prof. Timothy Adebayo, disclosed this while addressing journalists at the Council Chamber of the school, in the company of other principal officers of the faith-based university.
Adebayo said: “Twelve students are in police net over the killing; 18 were initially apprehended. But the police screened them to 12. They were taken to Iyaganku Police Station, Ibadan.”
Also, the management of the institution declared three-day mourning, a fast, and prayers for the deceased.
Adebayo said: “As a vice chancellor, I wept throughout Sunday and Monday. Even while conveying the message to the staff, I wept. I didn’t know I would be able to address this press conference. I sympathise with the family. We don’t pray for such to happen. We are sad over the development. The university has declared three-day mourning from Wednesday to Friday, with fasting and prayer every night against a recurrence of such as a sad incident. The days will be lecture-free to mourn the departed student.”
The VC added: “We have a monitoring team that moves around. We have a security team. The management moves round to check that things are in order to ensure that students comply with the mechanism put in place.
“We will increase the number of security operatives and porters. We will keep on beefing up security in our hostels. We will work on every other aspect of observed inadequacies.
“Ajayi Crowther University is safe. We raise students with godly characters. We are telling the parents now that their children are in safe hands here.”
The Deputy Vice Chancellor, Prof. Muyiwa Popoola, also confirmed the VC’s statement, saying: “We wept bitterly.”
He reiterated the university’s stance against cultism and bullying, noting: “We have learnt our lessons in a hard way. We have zero tolerance for bullying and cultism. There is no cultism. We have worked in different schools; cultists need bushes to operate. There is no sign of cultism and bullying here. There are no bushes here.
Cultists need bushes to operate. We always ask our students not to stay alone and in obscure places.
