Ibadan Poly Explains Reasons For Inviting Amotekun To Its Campus

The management of The Polytechnic Ibadan, Oyo State, has explained why the Amotekun corps was invited to the institution.

The management of the state owned polytechnic told THE WHISTLER on Thursday that the state owned security outfit was invited to beef up security on the campus to curb clashes by rival cult gangs and foil robbery attacks on the campus.

There were cases of cult attacks and robbery incidents on the campus in recent times and it was gathered that the polytechnic invited the Amotekun, a security agency created by governors of states in the South-West, to stop the menace.

Speaking with our correspondent on Thursday, the Public Relations Officer of the polytechnic, Mr Adewole Soladoye, said the institution decided to station Amotekun on the campus to prevent threat to lives and properties.

He said, ” We deployed Amotekun on the campus to strengthen security and make people to feel safe.

” They ( Amotekun) will be around for as long as necessary.

“Security is a continuous thing, when you enter into your personal house, you lock it, you switch on the security light and put in place necessary measure to make sure you and your people are safe, that is what we are doing.

“There is no cause for alarm about the presence of Amotekun on the campus and the students and the staff feel safe seeing them around

“The criminals are always a step ahead of the law and that is why we also have to be proactive. We want to be proactive always to protect students , staff and visitors.”

It will be recalled that security situation became so bad in the polytechnic in June 2021 that the school had to suspend all activities on the campus.

The Registrar of the institution, Mrs Modupe Fawale, announced the suspension of all activities in a statement. The registrar blamed the development on the security situation on the campus and outside.

It stated that academic activities, including conferences, seminars and workshops in the institution had tentatively been suspended.

In November of the same year, a female student of the polytechnic was shot and injured on the campus.

The victims, Taibat Babatunde, an ND 1 Science and Laboratory Technology student, was rushed to the University College Hospital for treatment.