UNILAG: “I saw protesters smoking weed, attacking female student”
Most of the protesters who stormed the University of Lagos (UNILAG) on Monday were not UNILAG students, a female graduate who said she monitored the situation told Newsroom.
She will not be named for safety reasons.
“These people just came to display their stupidity,” the UNILAG graduate who was a student leader during her days in the school said.
“I was there when they protested. I saw them beating a female student for refusing to join their demonstration. I had to intervene to stop the shameful act.
WATCH: Protesters berate “enslaved” UNILAG students for refusing to “join the struggle”
“I tell you, these people are not UNILAG students. They are touts. I saw some of them smoking Indian hemp and pouring water on passersby,” she said.
The protest, Newsroom reported, was organized by Save UNILAG Coalition. Demonstrators want school authorities to reinstate 11 students who were suspended for criticizing the school last year.
SUC also wants the student union government (ULSU) restored. But UNILAG authorities, activists say, continue to take a hard stance against the demands. Protesters dragged the case to court but had it thrown out on “technical grounds”.
Monday’s protest was endorsed by:
- National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS)
- Alliance of Nigerian Students against Neoliberal Attacks (ANSA)
- Tai Solarin University of Education (TASUED) Students Union Government (SUG)
- Education Rights Campaign (ERC)
- Students and Youth Activist Support Initiative (SYASI)
- United Action for Democracy (UAD)
- Nigeria University Education Students Association (NUESA)
- Protesters expressed shock at the refusal of most UNILAG students to join the demonstration.
UNILAG had called protesters “troublemakers” and warned students not to join the march because “it could degenerate into violence”.
SUC said it would march peacefully adding that UNILAG was probably plotting to plant troublemakers among peaceful demonstrators.
Some of the protesters, who are students and graduates from other schools, expressed shock at the refusal of “timid” UNILAG students to “fight for their own rights”.
“We don’t have to be UNILAG students to stand up for UNILAG students,” a protester told Newsroom.
*Feature photo: In 2016, UNILAG students scale school fence to “run home” while colleagues protested against poor living condition on campus.
