Years flowed freely inside the Ekiti State Judiciary premises on Friday
as a Chief Magistrate’s Court remanded 16 students of Afe Babalola
University (ABUAD), Ado Ekiti in prison custody for their roles in the
mayhem that rocked the institution last Sunday.
They are being
prosecuted for attempted robbery, arson and burglary allegedly committed
during the riot that occurred on the campus of the private university.
They
were accused of attempting to rob a branch of Wema Bank located inside
the campus, setting houses of ABUAD security staff members ablaze and
burglary of a boutique belonging to the wife of the university’s
founder, Mrs. Modupe Babalola.
Parents of the remanded students
broke down and wept profusely as their children were being marched into a
Toyota pick-up van belonging to the state command of the Nigeria
Prisons Service (NPS) heading for the Federal Prisons, Ado Ekiti.
The
affected students are to remain in prison custody pending an advice
from the office of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP).
The
mother of the only female student among the accused persons amid sobs
asserted the innocence of her daughter who was said to be in her final
year at the university.
A distraught mother of one of the
embattled students lamented saying: “I have been fasting and praying,
why is my child implicated in this case? I have struggled to give him
the best education, I didn’t know this is where it would take him. My
child is innocent oh!”
Reprieve, however came the way of six of
the accused persons as Chief Magistrate Adesoji Adegboye, dropped
charges against them for the same offences consequent upon an
application by the police prosecutor, Samson Osobu.
The six were
among those earlier granted N300,000 bail on a six-count charge of
rioting, possession of firearms and malicious damage.
Chief
Magistrate Adegboye adjourned the case to Tuesday next week for further
hearing calling on the Ministry of Justice to speed up legal advice in
order to dispose of the matter as soon as possible.
Meanwhile,
the alumni association of the university has condemned the riot that
rocked the institution leading to destruction of property worth millions
of naira.
The association warned against misinformation on the
social media denying that no student was shot, raped or died during the
protest.
The body praised the university’s founder, Aare Afe
Babalola, for resisting the temptation to close down the university as a
result of the crisis.
Addressing a briefing on the campus on
Thursday, President of ABUAD Alumni Association, Tope Sobajo, called on
all stakeholders to join hands with the authorities to get to the root
of the crisis.
She urged parents, students and members of the
public to desist from making “spurious, inflammatory and unsubstantiated
claims” urging anybody needing any clarifications to contact the
authorities and the police.
http://www.ekitionline.com.ng/parents-weep-court-sends-16-abuad-students-prison-ado-ekiti/
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