ONDO: AAUA shut as mother dies of shock for losing 3 children in accident

Varsity students protest incessant accidents at campus gate

THE management of the Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko, on Sunday ordered the closure of the institution until further notice.

According to a statement which announced the closure, issued by the acting Registrar of the institution, Opeoluwa Akinfemiwa, the decision became necessary following the protest prompted by the fatal accident which occured at the varsity main gate on Saturday.

Nine persons, including some students of the university, were killed in the accident.

The circular read, “Further to our circular of Saturday, January 23, 2021 and the attendant protest by students on Sunday, January 24, 2021, the acting Vice-Chancellor, Adekunle Ajasin Univeristy, Akungba Akoko, Prof. Olugbenga Ige, on behalf of the Senate, has directed that the university be closed with immediate effect until further notice.

“All students are therefore advised to vacate the campus latest by 6pm today, Sunday, January 24, 2021.”

According to the Ondo State Sector Command of the Federal Road Safety Corps and the state command of the Nigeria Police, no fewer than nine persons were killed, while several others were injured in the accident that involved a truck belonging to Dangote Cement.

It was gathered that the cement-laden truck was heading for Owo from Obajana in Kogi State, when its brake allegedly failed. As a result, the driver lost control of the vehicle and swerved off the road and rammed into some shops directly opposite the university.

Meanwhile, as families of the victims of the accident began counting losses, it has become clear that a mother lost three children to the unfortunate incident.

Sympathising with the grief-stricken family of the victims, a former spokesman for the Lagos State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, Joe Igbokwe, confirmed this ugly development in a Facebook post.

Igbokwe noted that the mother of the three siblings killed in the accident has also died, he added that she died of shock after hearing the sad news of her children’s death.

Igbokwe’s post was titled: ‘I am in deep pains and totally diminished as a mortal’.

He wrote, “An accident occurred yesterday (Saturday) in Akungba, Ondo State….these three guys were from same parents, a trailer crushed the three of them together in their shop and they all died instantly. Their mum died on the spot on hearing the news. Two of them are final year students of Ondo State University…….”

Also claimed by the accident was a former Student Union President of the university, Samuel Adesomoju, popularly known as Sampraise.

The Global President of the National Association of Ondo State Students, Ayoade Kikiowo, confirmed this to journalists.

The body of Adesomoju, a 500-level law student, was discovered in the mortuary after the crash.

The ugly development angered the students of the university who took to the town to register their displeasure over incessant road crashes in the community, particularly along the university road.

The protesting students, who were singing solidarity songs, barricaded the roads that entered into the town and asked vehicles going into the town to turn back.

The angry students also sent back the state government delegation led by the Chief of Staff to Governor Rotimi Akeredolu. All efforts to placate them failed.

They demanded the personal appearance of the governor and not a delegation. The students stopped the delegation at Iwaro junction, in Akungba Akoko, stating that the government had neglected the community as no effort was made to curb incessant road accidents in the community.