Wole Balogun, Ado-Ekiti
Students of the Federal University, Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE), on Tuesday, allegedly clashed the transporters in the town over alleged 100 percent sudden hike in the fares for conveying the students to the campus from the town.
It was gathered that trouble started when angry students refused to yield to the new fares by the transporters and insisted on the former one or a little less.
A member of the transporters, who did not want his name in prints, told Daily Sun that angry students resisted the price hike and insisted that the drivers must convey them at a lower fare.
The drivers, many of whom were locals from the town refused and that led to a clash.
“For a few hours in the afternoon today (Tuesday), students and local drivers in Oye-Ekiti were engaged in some kind of war. They carried planks and other dangerous weapons to fight each other over what the refusal of the drivers to reduce the fare for the transport services.” He said.
Another man, Taiwo Sunkanmi, said the clash was about the on-going strike action by the staff, alleging that: ” I think some locals went to the campus to chase away workers who went to their offices s in spite of the on going strike action. The students weren’t happy with the development and they also resisted the invasion by the locals,” he said.
But the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the institution, Geoffrey Bakji told the reporter that the clash between students of the school and some locals was not in any way connected to the strike action.
“What happened was that some students who weren’t happy with the over 100 percent hike in the transport fares expressed their displeasure and that led to some disagreement which didn’t last for too long.
“There was no clash inside the school premises but all that happened was in the town and the school authorities had since wade in and brought in the police who have restored calm and normalcy to the school. So, there is no cause for alarm and everyone is doing fine now,” he said.