Death of ex-LASU student: ERC demands immediate arrest, prosecution of killers

Education Rights Campaign (ERC), a non-governmen­tal rights group, on Saturday demanded a probe, arrest and prosecution of the alleged killers of the Comrade Nurudeen Yusuf (a.k.a.) Omo­meewa, a former student of the Lagos State University (LASU), Ojo, Lagos.

Omomeewa, until his death, was the coordinator of the Education Rights Campaign (ERC) Lagos State chapter and a member of the Democratic Socialist Move­ment (DSM).

He was attacked along the Iba-LASU road while walk­ing to take a bus home with Majekodunmi, a staff of the university and member of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSA­NU) by yet-to-be-identified gunmen on Wednesday.

Omomeewa died while Majekodunmi, who allegedly sustained gunshot injuries, is receiving treatment.

ERC, in a statement joint­ly signed by Ogunjimi Isaac, deputy national coordinator and Michael Lenin, mobili­sation officer, demanded the constitution of a probe pan­el by elected representatives of the students union, staff unions, trade unions and civil society to unravel the circumstances surrounding his sudden and unfortunate death including possible complicity of the university administration

The statement titled: “Com­rade Nurudeen Alowonle: An Indefatigable Student Activ­ist, Pro-Workers Advocate and Socialist Hounded To Death by the Lagos State University Management in Retribution for his Role in Students and Workers Struggle in the Insti­tution”, reads in parts, “The Education Rights Campaign (ERC) hereby announces the sudden demise of our dear comrade and member, Nurudeen Alowonle (a.k.a) Omomeewa, who was killed by yet-to-be-identified armed assailants.

“We join thousands of cur­rent and past students and workers of the Lagos State University (LASU), family and friends to mourn Omo­meewa. We also commiserate with his wife, four-month-old son and the entire family and wish them the fortitude to bear this very painful loss.

“We hold that Omomeewa would not have met his un­timely death if he had not been hounded by the Management of the Lagos State University (LASU), which has subjected him to varying levels of victi­misation over the past three years because of his princi­pled opposition to the man­agement’s anti-student and anti-worker policies.”

(Daily Independent)