Death of student on campus: We were not negligent, says Ajayi Crowther varsity VC

The management of Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo, Oyo State, has denied that it was negligent in its duties in the case of the death of one of its students, Elvis Paul Abu, noting that it played the role expected of it in a very professional way.
Speaking on the incident, which caused a riot, leading to the closing down of the school, the Vice Chancellor of the institution, Rev. Canon Prof. Kolawole Timothy Jaiyeoba, blamed the riot on some unknown persons who are not students of the school but may have been friends of the late student.

Telling the institution’s own side of the story in Lagos on Wednesday, Jaiyeoba noted that the late Abu was brought to the school’s health clinic on Sunday February 5, complaining of severe headache and the doctor on duty, who is also the doctor-in-charge of the centre, promptly attended to him, making frantic effort to stabilise his condition.
He noted that the student had on Friday preceding the Sunday that he reported sick, applied for a pass to go home to get some things to enable him to prepare for the forthcoming examinations, but he did not return to the school same day as expected of him.
According to Jaiyeoba, though the doctor tried stabilising Abu’s condition at first, his case suddenly took a turn for the worse and before he could be referred to another hospital he died.
He said: “Contrary to newspaper reports on the incident, it isn’t true that the generator was switched off. The university’s generator is constantly used without permission from the Vice Chancellor or any other officer.
“Besides, the Health Centre has its standby generator. Giving oxygen to the patient did not require power supply. So, it is not true that there was power outage and the oxygen stopped.”
He said that immediately the news of the passing of the student became known, both the students and management of the school, including the Vice Chancellor, immediately gathered to show sympathy.
He added: “In fact, the students who were law  abiding surrounded the Vice Chancellor and principal officers and listened carefully without harm to anyone. However, while listening, some unknown persons, but regarded as those who had gone out to drink with the deceased, hijacked the situation and began breaking of some university properties. When the police got to the scene, there was peaceful calm.
“The students responded very well and went back to their halls. There were some miscreants who came inside during the disruption. It was one or two persons that set a paper on fire and dropped it on the carpet inside a block of offices.”
While condoling with the family of the deceased, Jaiyeoba said an investigative panel has already been set up to look into the immediate and remote causes of the incident and that appropriate sanctions will be applied immediately the report comes in, so that the school can re-open.