Date: 2014-06-12

Vice-Chancellor, Al-Hikmah University, Ilorin,  Prof, Sulyman Abdulkareem was on Wednesday injured in his attempt to restore normalcy and avoid the escalation of a misunderstanding between some plain clothed security men and the students of the institution.

The VC, in an interview with journalists in Ilorin, said three armed, plain clothed men, a driver and another unarmed man had come to the school and tried to arrest a female student without informing the institution’s authorities.

He added that the students, who were surprised at the attempt to arrest one of their colleagues without the information and consent of the school authorities, probably thinking that the female student was to be abducted, resisted the attempt to arrest the female student, who was said to be a year two student.

Abdulkareem stated that when the school authorities got wind of the commotion in the school, they intervened and prevented the commotion from escalating. He added that in the process, he got wounded.

He said, “What happened this morning is a case of misjudgment by authority that is supposed to be enforcing laws. They came to the campus and tried to arrest a female student. We had to intervene because students insisted  that students can not be arrested from campus without letting the authorities know.

“It is very unfortunate that anybody will come to the university campus and want to make an arrest and made no effort to inform constituted authorities.

“Anyway, if we had  not gone there to address the students because  these men were armed, I do not know what would have happened.  We thank God, the only person that got wounded was myself. I was trying to clear the debris that the students put on the road from the vehicles. Students insisted that these military men cannot carry away fellow students even if they claim to be students.

“These people were in mufti. That is what is more disturbing. If you come in uniform and you want to effect an arrest, you still need to tell constituted authority. But to make the matter worse, when you come to the campus with plain clothe and want to arrest a female student, it is not something that the students  will stomach.

“We call for police and they came. The people that came to make arrest are with the police now. Meanwhile, the student is safely in our hands.”

But the Kwara State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Ajayi Okasanmi, stated that the plain-clothe security men on Monday  reported to the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ambrose Aisabo, that they came to Kwara State for an investigation.

He stated that the CP directed them  to the state Criminal Investigation Department for normal documentations.

He added that the State CID further directed the visiting security operatives to take their letter to the Area Commander, Metro,  who could, if there was any need, give them police assistance.

The PPRO said the command believed the visiting security men must have followed the directive.

He added that they were surprised to receive an alert on Wednesday morning that there was a kind of disquiet in Al-Hikmah university.