Management shuts Ado-Ekiti federal poly, proscribes students’ union

The management of the Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti, has shut down the institution following students’ violent protest at the weekend.

A statement by Director, Protocol, Information and Public Relations, Mr. Adeyemi Adejoju, at the weekend, said the joint emergency meeting of the academic board and management committee held on Saturday, November 2, 2019, also proscribed the students’ union.

He said the decision followed the students’ rampage that occurred on Friday, November 1, 2019 on-campus where facilities in the School of Engineering building were destroyed and the main entrance to the polytechnic blocked.

“An 11-man committee was set up to look into the immediate and remote causes of the incident of the students’ rampage.

“Embargo was placed on students’ union activities with immediate effect,” he said.

He said that students would resume on Sunday, November 10, 2019, while examinations start on Tuesday, November 12, 2019.

Adejoju, however, denied allegation that the students’ protest was caused by an alleged imposition of candidates in the students’ union elections by the management, saying: “For the avoidance of any doubt, it has never been in the tradition of the institution’s management to impose candidates under any guise in the electoral process of all unions (staff and students) of the polytechnic.

“For over two decades now, students’ union electoral processes are run and conducted by the students themselves through their accredited representatives called APECO, the management only engaged in monitoring the process by ensuring that the rules set for themselves are strictly adhered to under a well secured atmosphere.”