A seven-man robbery gang has invaded two hostels in Abapawa community, housing students of Ogun State-owned Tai Solarin University Education (TASUED), Ijagun, and sexually abused four female students in the process.
The Guardian gathered that the robbers struck on Monday night, and continued their operation until the early morning of Tuesday before they left.
According to a source, the robbers who entered each of the 22 rooms in the hostels, carted away over 24 mobile phones, while a yet-to-be-determined amount of money was also taken from the students during the operation.
The Guardian learnt that each room of the hostel has at least two occupants, while a female police officer, who is an undergraduate student of the university, was a victim.
But the Ogun State government has vowed to bring the perpetrators to book.
The Deputy Governor, Noimot Salako-Oyedele, who visited the victims at the State Hospital, Ijebu Ode, before they were moved to the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital, Sagamu, for proper health care and rehabilitation, said the local council boss notified the government of the unfortunate incident.
“Immediately, on the instructions of the Governor, security operatives, led by the Area Commander of the Nigeria Police Force, were dispatched to the incident scene,” she said.
She indicated that the Commissioner of Police had personally been to the scene of the incident, since it was first reported, and was working assiduously to ensure the culprits are apprehended to face the full wrath of the law.
Speaking during at a meeting with the University management team, representatives of the student body, the Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Prof. Abayomi Arigbabu, as well as Commissioner of Police (CP), Abiodun Alamutu, the deputy governor stressed the need to forestall recurrence as it was one of the worst crimes against humanity.
She charged the school management to work with the concerned community, the police, and the students to put in place mechanisms that will guarantee life and property of the students living off campus.
Salako-Oyedele promised that the victims will be given the needed support, medically, morally and emotionally to ensure they overcome the trauma and lead normal afterwards free from stigmatisation of any kind.
Also, Arigbabu said the news of the incident was very disheartening, and promised the aggrieved students union representatives that the government would do everything humanly possible to apprehend the criminals.
The State Commissioner for Police, who expressed sympathy to the victims of the ugly incident, attributed the cause to lack of synergy among the security personnel in the communities where students reside, assuring that the perpetrators would be brought to book.
Tai Solarin University of Education, Deputy Vice Chancellor, Prof. Adekunle Adeogun, said the school management was bitter about the incident, explaining that since the incident happened the school management had been doing all within its power to support the victims, appealing to the state government for more support to nip further occurrence in the mud.
The Student union President TASUED, Comrade Akinjetan Hamed, expressed displeasure about the incident, saying there was need for the management of the school to put in place a strong security apparatus to curtail further occurrence, as well as directing private hostel owners to put in place adequate security measures in their respective hostels.
