- Safiu Kehinde
Students of the Polytechnic, Ibadan, has staged protest over the renaming of the institution by the Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde.
NPO Reported that Makinde has last week renamed the institution after the late former governor of the state, Omololu Olunloyo.
This was however rejected by the students’ community with a statement issued by the Ibadan Polytechnic’s Students Union Government (SUG) demanding the reversal of the decision.
In the statement jointly signed by the Union’s President, Oladipupo Olamide; Public Relations Officer, Akinade Bunyamin; and General Secretary, Azeez Tolase, the students labelled the renaming as unjustifiable and disregards the rich heritage and history.
They had maintained that the institution under the name, “The Polytechnic, Ibadan” has over 50 years served as a beacon of academic excellence while also earning respect and recognition nationwide.
Changing the name will, according to the students, erase the institution’s identity and legacy while causing irreparable harm to its reputation and alumni.
The inaction of the government over the development tends to have triggered the outrage from the students as they stormed the street on Tuesday.
As captured in series of video shared on X, the students obstructed traffic flow as they trooped out en masse to drive home their demand for Makinde’s reversal of the renaming.
See videos below