Terror threat: UI bars hawkers, food vendors.
Olufemi Atoyebi, Samuel Awoyinfa and Femi Makinde
Authorities of the University of Ibadan have barred hawkers and recharge card vendors from operating in the institution, finding by one of our correspondents revealed on Monday.
This comes as the university also enforced the ‘no parking’ order at its gate.
These measures, it was learnt, were put in place to check the threat message purportedly sent to some workers of the institution by a terrorist group, al-wilayat al-Islamiyya Gharb Afriqiyyah on Friday.
One of our correspondents, who visited the school on Monday, observed that a police van was stationed in front of the gate with policemen conducting stop and search on vehicles and individuals entering the school.
Many of the recharge card vendors and other hawkers who used to occupy the school gate were not there, just as the ‘no parking’ order usually flouted by commuters was strictly enforced.
But the Director of Communication, Olatunji Oladejo, who spoke to one of our correspondents, said the institution had taken other necessary security measures to safeguard lives and property in the school.
Oladejo said the institution was collaborating with security agencies to forestall any attack on the ivory tower.
He said, “We thank the various security agencies working with us but I must state that there is calm in the school. Apart from the presence of police and other security agencies at the school gate and around the campus, the university’s security outfit is also well equipped, trained and staffed to complement the effort of the police and other security agencies. We are not taking anything for granted.”
At the Sango Police Station, a few kilometres away from the school, an armoured personnel carrier was strategically parked in front of the station.
The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Adekunle Ajisebutu, said the command had deployed its intelligence officers to monitor the movement of people in and around the ivory tower.
Meanwhile, the Head, Directorate of Public Relations, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Mrs. Emi Alawode, on Monday, said that the ivory tower had put adequate security measures in place.
Apart from the private security arrangements on campus, the institution, she said, was liaising with the security agencies, such as the Police, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps.
Alawode also noted that the institution had deployed the ‘town and gown’ strategy, in order to ensure regular stakeholders’ meeting within the school and its environs.
She said, “Within our host communities, there are also Fulani herdsmen. We have started holding regular meetings with members of the host communities. The idea is that they can inform us of the new faces in their midst.”
The Director of Information, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye, Mr. Niyi Oduwole, said the security men in the institution had always been on guard, as the institution had perfected an effective security arrangement.
He added, “Modern security is intelligence-driven and that is what we do here.”
In a related development, the National Association of Nigerian Students has called on the Federal Government to beef up security in the universities in the South-West.
Its South-West Deputy Coordinator, Mr. Saheed Afolabi, said security agencies must ensure that adequate security arrangements were in place to prevent any attack in the institutions.
Afolabi said, “The threat to bomb the University of Ibadan by the terrorist group should not be taken with levity. Security measures should be in place to prevent this.”
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