Youths shut Otuoke University, demand appointment of indigenes

There was tension in Otuoke, home town of former President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, on Wednesday, as aggrieved youths of Bayelsa State, shut down Federal University, Otuoke, during a protest.

Vice-Chancellor, Federal University, Otuoke, Bayelsa State, Prof. Mobolaji Aluko
| credits: http://www.nigerianmuse.com

The youth embarked on the protest to demand the appointment of indigenes into management positions in the federal university.

They accused the Vice-Chancellor of the institution, Prof. Mobolaji Aluko, of playing the ethnic kite, alleging that none of the principal officers in the university was from Bayelsa.

It was learnt that the placard-carrying youths, numbering over 200, were a combination of Ijaw Youth Council members and students from the state, drawn from tertiary institutions across the Niger Delta states.

Sources said they converged on the main campus of FUO in the early hours of Wednesday and locked the gate against staff and students.

They were said to have proceeded from the main campus to the administrative buildings area, where they were denied entry as the gate had been locked by some security personnel who got wind of the protest.

The protest, though peaceful, caused panic among residents of Otuoke as business operators promptly closed shop apparently for fear that hoodlums could take advantage of the situation to attack and cart away goods.

Some of the inscriptions on the placards read, ‘Bayelsa youths say no to change of principal officers from Bayelsa’, ‘Registrar is not a Bayelsan. He is short-changing Bayelsans’, ‘Leave our woman bursar alone. We need equal representation in the management of FUO, Otuoke’, ‘IYC declares war if bursar and librarian are changed’, and ‘VC and registrar must go now. Enough is enough’.

President, National Union of Bayelsa State Students, Richard Lawyer, who led the action, said they were using the peaceful protest to send a strong message to Aluko and the school management.

He alleged that the VC edged out the acting bursar, an indigene, and manipulated the retention of his godsons for the post of Director, Physical Planning and Development and that of university librarian, who are non-indigenes.

Lawyer said the people of the state would not accept the arrangement in which principal offices including heads of department were occupied by non-indigenes.

He said they were dissatisfied with the way and manner Aluko had been running the university, stressing that the marginalisation of the people of Bayelsa must stop.

He insisted that the acting bursar from Bayelsa must be retained.

He added, “All sensitive positions in this university are occupied by non-Bayelsans. This is not right.

And it will not happen in our time.

“What is happening in Federal University, Otuoke will define the future of Bayelsans. But Bayelsa State students, youths and women leaders will resist it.

“We are not happy with the way the VC and his people have been running the affairs of the university. We are warning everyone of them who is behind this marginalization to stop.

“Even if the bursar will be replaced, her replacement must come from Bayelsa.”

But the registrar of the institution, David Suowari, who spoke on behalf of Aluko, denied the allegations of the protesters.

He said the authorities of FUO had no hand in the appointment of any principal officers,  adding that all such appointments were done by the Federal Government.

Youths shut Otuoke University, demand appointment of indigenes