NANS, group protest Grace Oshiagwu’s murder in Oyo

Oyo reviews curfew, worship centres to operate at 25% capacity
The Federation of Akinyele Local Government Students Union and National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), yesterday, staged a peaceful protest over the alleged murder of a 21-year-old lady, Grace Oshiagwu, in Akinyele Local Council of Oyo State.

The students, who carried placards bearing various inscriptions such as “Real Men Don’t Rape”, “No Justice, No Peace”, “Stop Giving Emotional Trauma”, “Stop Killing Our Women, Our Dreams”, “I Don’t Want To Be Next Victim”, “Students Demand Justice”, said the government had been lacklustre in responding to the security challenges in the area.

President of the Akinyele Students Union, Olawale Oladoja, who bemoaned the lax security situation of the area and attitude of security agents, said the relocation of Oyo State Police Commissioner to the council had not yielded any result.

He said: “We are embarking on this protest to show our displeasure to these incessant rapes. We have recorded four rape cases in this local council. Barakat Bello was killed. Grace was killed. Another one occurred at Sasa. We have found many situations where people were killed without reporting.

“We have reached out to security agencies. Last week, we heard that the commissioner of police relocated to this local government, but the truth of the matter is that it has not translated to any improvement in the security of the local council.

Also, the former Secretary-General of NANS, South-West Zone, Oloja Olanrewaju, said: “It is imperative to lend our voice to rape and suspected ritual killings in this local council. We also want to tell the government and security forces to beef up security to ensure that those carrying out these heinous acts are apprehended and justice is served to them.

“We had information that the Commissioner of Police has relocated to the local council since the killing of Azeezat but unfortunately, we still have these killings. The implication is that these criminals are still in this local council. They should fish out the criminals so that Akinyele can be safe once again.”

In another development, the Oyo State COVID-19 Task Force, yesterday, said that it had relaxed the curfew imposed on the state following the advent of the ravaging coronavirus pandemic.

The task force, which made the decision public after a two-and-a-half-hour meeting presided by its chairman, Governor Seyi Makinde, added that the curfew would now run from 10:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m. daily.

A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Makinde, Mr. Taiwo Adisa, confirmed that other decisions reached include the resumption of classes for Primary Six, JSS 3 and SSS3 students from Monday, June 29, resumption of work by all category of workers at the state secretariat from June 22; opening up of mosques and churches, which are to operate at 25 per cent capacity; and the decision to limit public gathering to not more than 25 persons.