Oyo policemen took Ayodele Aduwo, an undergraduate student of History and Olawale Olajide, an undergraduate student of Communication and Language Arts, away from the University of Ibadan (UI) campus on Monday.

FIJ confirmed that both students were active members of the UI student protest that surged on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

UI students had earlier protested the management’s decision to ration electricity to hostels on July 16. As part of their demands, the students also agitated for the reversal in school fees increment. To quell the protests, the management told students that it would hold meetings to make new decisions.

On Thursday, the university management insisted students had a six-day ultimatum to pay their fees and urged them to take NELFUND loans to supplement payment.

READ MORE: UI Management Tells Students to Vacate Campus for 3 Weeks Following Fee Hike Protests

The management’s decision, however, did not sit well with the students as they once again took to the streets of UI to protest on Thursday and Friday. To stop the new protest, the management scheduled a meeting with the student union leaders on Friday. In the meeting, the management agreed with union leaders to give students a three-week deadline to complete payment.

Students responded with further protests. What followed was the management’s announcement in a memo that students should vacate their hostels.

The management also announced in the memo that students had till 2 pm on Saturday to vacate the hostels.

FIJ gathered that many students exited the halls of residence before 2 pm but those who defaulted were locked in their halls. They had to pay fines before they could leave.

FIJ spoke with Aduwo on Monday but noticed he stopped responding to texts around noon. After a few calls, another student answered his phone to inform FIJ that Aduwo had been arrested.

“While we were at the Students Union Building cafeteria, the Deputy Chief Security Officer (DCSO) came with some other Abefele men (a code name for UI security) and told him (Aduwo) that he should come and see the CSO at the office, but he didn’t go,” this student told FIJ.

“Then they came like 10 minutes later and were forceful. That was how they took him away. The only person that went with him was Wale (Olajide).”

All efforts to reach Aduwo were futile. Multiple sources confirmed to FIJ that Aduwo and Olajide had been taken to the Criminal Department, Iyaganku Police Station in Ibadan, on Monday.

Prior to this, multiple sources in UI told FIJ that they noticed the presence of policemen in plain clothes. They suggested the police could be present in connection to the protest.

READ MORE: UI Management Hikes School Fees, Tells Students to Pay in 6 Days and Stay Quiet

‘THE CP IS THE ONE LOOKING FOR THEM, NOT US’

Around 4 pm, FIJ called Victor Fadebiyi, UI’s Chief Security Officer (CSO), to confirm Aduwo and Olajide’s whereabouts.

FIJ also asked the CSO why the students had been arrested, but he said that he was just driving into the campus.

“They were invited by the commissioner of police, and I don’t see anything wrong in that,” Fadebiyi told FIJ.

When FIJ asked why the police got involved in the case, Fadebiyi said, “The campus has been boiling for the past few days and there are policemen of the intelligence units on campus 24/7. I think they were invited because there has been violence in the school.

“A flyer came out on the group telling them that they were going to make the campus ungovernable today (Monday).”

Fadebiyi promised to share an image of the flyer with FIJ. He had not done so at press time.

FIJ also contacted Bolaji Aweda, UI’s student union president, to ask about the arrest and the students’ whereabouts but he said he had not spoken with the CSO.

“I heard they have been handed over to the police. I have not been able to reach the CSO. When I called, he said he was in a meeting. Currently, I am far away from school,” Aweda told FIJ.