Wale JAGUN
Hell was let lose today, Tuesday, June 2, 2019, when men of the Nigerian police allegedly forcefully dispersed the protesting ‘striking’ union members of the Lagos State Polytechnic on the Ikorodu main campus of the institution.
Hundreds of staff members, students and others were seen running helter skelter to evade the tear gas released by the police at the First gate of the institution.
Both the management and Union members of the Polytechnic have been at loggerheads over the implementation of the CONTISS 15 MIGRATION salary scheme for over two years and the crisis seems to have defied all solutions and interventions.
THE IMPACT gathered that the aggrieved union members, mostly members of the institution’s non-academic staff, had embarked on a protest on the campus to press home their demands when armed police officers, who were reportedly first stationed outside the school gate, forced the main gate, which was locked by the striking staff members, opened and released tear gas.
Some of the students that spoke with THE IMPACT stated that the protesting staff members locked the three gates that lead into the school to prevent movement in and out of the institution’s premises.
It was also stated that the unionists used tree branches and other objects to barricade sections of the road during their protest .
Students were seen finding their ways out of the campus during the crisis through a path created after pulling down part of the institution’s wall at First gate.
In a release by the union, titled “LASPOTECH workers under police siege: As police threaten to open fire on protesting workers!”, sent to THE IMPACT this afternoon, it was alleged that a detachment of the Nigeria police, led by the DPO of Shagamu Road Police Station, threatened to open fire on the protesting union members.
It was alleged that the police claimed that they have the order from above to kill and arrest as many protesters as possible.
“A detachment of the Nigeria Police, led by the DPO, Ikorodu Police Station, Sagamu Road, Mr. Omission, has threatened to open fire on the protesting workers of the Lagos State Polytechnic, Ikorodu, claiming they have the order from above to kill and arrest as many protesting workers as possible.
“The workers have locked up themselves within the Ikorodu Campus of the Polytechnic, singing and chanting songs in pursuant of their demands. But the DPO ordered his men to come into the campus and engage the workers and force the gate open. The workers were seriously teargased; the DPO claimed that the Area N Commander has threatened that their job is on the line and must over-power and stop the workers from protesting; hence his men should do everything to deal with the protesting workers”.
The union members called on the Inspector General of Police to call his men to order, claiming that their protest against the institution’s management, which has been on for months, is legitimate.
“We are seeking the attention of the Inspector General of Police to call the policemen to order because the workers have been on strike for some months, protesting legitimately and peacefully within their campus against the management of the Polytechnic”.
When contacted on phone, the Lagos Command Police Public Relations Officer, Mr Bala Elkana , stated that he was unaware of the police intervention at the Polytechnic .
“Honestly, I’m not aware of this. I don’t have the brief yet”, the state police image maker stated.
As at the time of filing this report, the institution’s Public Relations Officer, Mr Olanrewaju Kuye, was yet to respond to our text messages sent to his mobile phone.
