Kwara Poly Shut as Students Protest Killing of Colleague

Kwara Poly Students Protest

For the second day, business activities in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, were at a standstill following continued demonstration by students of the state polytechnic peeved by Monday's shooting of their colleague.

The victim, Ahmed Dayo, an ND 1 student of the polytechnic, was said to have been mistakenly shot on the legs by a police corporal.

Dayo is still alive and recuperating at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH), according to the hospital's spokesman, Oba Hassan Abdulkadir, in an interview with newsmen.

Though the police said on Monday that the corporal who fired the shot has been apprehended and that the law will take its course, protest raged on yesterday triggering a shutdown of shops and businesses along Post-Office, Muritala Muhammed way, where the incident occurred.

Major banks in the town also closed down for fear of attacks as the protest stretched to Ibrahim Taiwo road/Unity axis as well as Challenge area with protesters brandishing dangerous weapons and setting bonfires to block the roads. Our correspondent reports that the situation was brought under control by a team of mobile policemen.

The state government has closed down the polytechnic, "pending when the situation gets normal", according to the state Commissioner for Tertiary Education, Science and Technology, Alhaji Aliyu Lade.

The Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Isiaka Sola Gold, in a statement appealed to the protesting students to remain calm and avoid any action capable of disrupting peace and order in the state.

He assured the students that the state police command has commenced disciplinary proceedings against the police officer at the centre of the incident.