Student Hit By Tear Gas Canister Died During Ondo-State Protest

The name of the pupil has not been identified as at the time of filling this report. The student of St Joseph College was on his way to the school on Friday when he was hit by the canister.

The protest in Ondo State, over the weekend, took a bloody dimension as a secondary school student was said to have been hit by the tear gas canister, released by the police in dispersing the rioters in Ondo town, near Ife garage. This came as opposition political parties in the state, weekend, called for calm and caution over the protests.

Moreso, Akure, the Ondo State capital, was not left out, as rioters again trooped to the streets, protesting the decision of INEC.

The Deji of Akure, Oba Aladetoyinbo Aladelusi, emerge from his Palace, over the weekend, appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene in the Ondo PDP crisis arising from substitution of Eyitayo Jegede with Jimoh Ibrahim as governorship candidate by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) according to court orders.

Aladetoyinbo made the appeal while addressing aggrieved PDP members and the supporters, who again came out in their thousands at his Palace, in Akure. He also enjoined INEC to be not be partisan. “The judiciary should also intervene and make sure that all parties get justice because we don’t want any injustice in Ondo State,” he said. Speaking on behalf of the protesters, PDP Chairman in the state, Engr Clement Faboyede, called on the president to prevail on INEC to look into the issue.

“We don’t want Ondo State to be on fire because our state is peaceful. Some cabals in All Progressive Congress (APC) are using Jimoh Ibrahim against the candidacy of Jegede, Jimoh is not a PDP member but rather a card carrying member of Accord party,” he said.

The supporters carried placards with inscriptions such as ‘Return Jegede to us’, Buhari should not interfere in Ondo politics’ and ‘Remember 1983’. In Akure, the state capital, the protesters led by Speaker of the Ondo State House of Assembly, Rt Hon. Jumoke Akindele and Ondo State PDP Chairman, Clement Faboyede marched from Alagbaka through the popular Oba Adesida road and climaxed at the Palace of Deji of Akure chanting “Eyitayo is Our Choice.” The action paralyzed vehicular, business and commercial activities as all shops in the city were under lock and key in solidarity with Eyitayo Jegede.