Police promise to nab ex-UI VC’s attackers

 

The Oyo State Police Command said it was working hard to apprehend the gang of suspected kidnappers who shot former vice-chancellor of the University of Ibadan, Prof. Femi Bamiro, on Tuesday night.

Sixty-nine-year-old Bamiro, who is presently the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Council, Tai Solarin University of Education, Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State, was alleged to have been injured during a failed kidnapping attempt at his home in Ibadan.

He is presently on admission at a private suite of the University College Hospital, Ibadan, after he was stabilised by a team of doctors and nurses at the Intensive Care Unit of the teaching hospital.

Police Public Relations Officer of the Oyo State Command, Adekunle Ajisebutu, told our correspondent that the command had commenced investigations into the shooting.

“The duty of the police is to protect the citizens and bring to justice perpetrators of evil. We are on top of the case, but we will not be giving out what we are doing so that we don’t jeopardise our effort. But surely, we are on top of the situation and soon, the perpetrators will be brought to justice,” he said.

Reacting to the shooting, Chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, UI chapter, Dr. Deji Omole, told our correspondent that the shooting was one of the results of government’s failure to protect citizens despite the billions of naira spent on security.

Omole said while the nation’s politicians enjoy maximum protection provided with taxpayer funds, productive citizens are exposed to daily hazard.

He said, “The university community received the news with shock. It shows how the government has failed its own people in the area of provision of security. A senior citizen like Bamiro deserves protection, just like all Nigerians do. With the billions of naira budgeted by government on security, crime is still committed at will.
“An international scholar of Bamiro’s status is exposed to hazard, while politicians are protected with heavy security men. It is news today because a notable Nigerian is involved; but on daily basis, people are killed or injured in Nigeria.

“We call on the Federal Government to ensure the arrest of the perpetrators of such evil on the old man.”

Director of Communication, UI, Olatunji Oladejo, said the school management team visited the former VC on Thursday and that he had stabilised.

“Thank God he has stabilized. We met him reading on the bed. He sat up to receive us, but the leg where he was shot is in bandages,” he said.

Also, condemning the attack, the UI Alumni Association, Abuja chapter in a statement jointly signed by its Chairman, Ismail Alasa, and the Secretary, ‎Chinasa Okechukwu, described the incident as barbaric, crude and heinous, calling on government to tackle crime in the country. “Prof. Bamiro is a renowned Nigerian academic who has served this country meritoriously. The UI Alumni Association ur the security agencies and the necessary authorities to swiftly deal with the situation, apprehend the culprits and bring them to book immediately,” the statement read in part.