OAU Tenders Apology For Lecturer’s Assault On Student

The management of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, has tendered an apology to the general public, particularly its alumni, regarding the reported physical altercation between a male student and a lecturer at the university.

It was gathered on Wednesday, that the victim identified simply as Gift, who is a 200-level student at the university, suddenly dashed into a lecture room where the lecturer, identified simply as Dr Ariyo, was conducting a class.

Sources on the campus made it known that Gift was said to have mistaken the class for where he was to take a lecture and upon realising this, he quickly attempted to exit the class when the lecturer called him back.

In one of the videos of the incident that circulated online, the student was seen struggling with a man said to be a security official.

The student was also seen attempting to press his phone when the lecturer shouted, “Don’t call anybody! Switch off that phone! You can’t be more than me, even if you’re the VC’s son, I won’t take this from you. Switch off the phone!”

“What did I do?” the student, Gift, was heard saying.

After some seconds, the man said to be the lecturer was seen struggling to take the phone from the student whose back was already on the wall. He was subsequently seen throwing a punch at the student afterwards as other students watched in amazement.

The management announced on Wednesday that it was probing the incident.

Reacting further on Thursday, the management apologised to the public.

“The attention of the authorities of OAU has been drawn to a video that has gone viral about a lecturer in the university who allegedly assaulted a part two student.

“Displeased with what he saw in the video, the Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof Adebayo Bamire, has waded into the matter to set up a committee to unravel the circumstances surrounding the whole scenario,” a statement by the Public Relations Officer of the university, Abiodun Olarewaju, stated.

“What happened in the viral video is not in our character. We are a decent and diligent set of people who will not tolerate any form of abuse or maltreatment from anyone. We, therefore, apologise to the people, especially our alumni, whose sensibilities might have been assaulted by that shenanigan.

“We appeal to our students to remain calm and conduct their normal academic activities. We assure all stakeholders that justice will be served accordingly and appropriately”, Olarewaju added.