A male lecturer of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun, Dr Ariyo, yesterday, allegedly attacked a student for allegedly refusing to switch off his phone in class.
It was gathered that there was an altercation between the lecturer from the Department of Electrical Engineering and the young student during the lecture, which later led to a face-off.
A video posted on social media by the victim’s classmates showed the lecturer tongue-lashing the student over a phone he was holding and ordered him to switch it off.
In the video clip, the refusal of the boy to heed to his lecturer’s instruction, forced him to rough handle him in a bid to forcefully collect the phone from his hand.
After Ariyo took the phone from the undergraduate, he was seen hitting him on the head with his fist as other students screamed in shock.The lecturer was heard telling the boy in the classroom: “You can’t be bigger than me. Even if you are a VC’s son, I won’t take it from you. Switch off the phone now! Switch off the phone!”
Apparently not moved by his lecturer’s anger, the boy clinched to his phone and was heard asking the feasibly enraged Don, “What did I do?” before he forced the phone from him.
It was alleged that the male student was bleeding from his mouth afterwards and that his Samsung phone got damaged. When contacted on the telephone, the Public Relations Officer of the institution, Abiodun Olarewaju, confirmed the alleged physical assault, saying the management had intervened and invited the parties for a probe.
Condemning the development, Olarewaju said: “We have seen the video. The Vice-Chancellor is not pleased with the whole scenario.
“Although it is a family affair, we will set up a panel and apportion blame appropriately, we want to use this medium to appeal to our students to remain calm. The management is on top of the situation.”
Asked if the victim bled owing to the alleged beating, Olarewaju responded: “I wouldn’t know whether the boy bled or not but what I know is that the physical thing we saw there is uncalled for.”
