Kwara Police dispel rumour on Ilorin airport protest

Tamarauemi Ebimini

The Kwara State Police Command has dispelled the rumour that the National Association of Nigerian Students in the state has planned to shut down the Ilorin International Airport to protest the prolonged strike action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities.

NANS, in the state, had said that it was set for a showdown with the state police command with its plans to shut down the airport in protest of the strike.

However, the command, in a statement signed by its Public Relations officer, SP Ajayi Okasanmi, noted that NANS said that it had no plan to organise or join the demonstration of students at the airport.

Okasanmi said that the Commissioner of Police, on hearing the news of the planned shutdown of the airport, held a consultative meeting with the President and some executive members of NANS in the state and they denied planning any protest.

But the President of the Students’ Union Government, University of Ilorin, denied that the student leaders in the state met with Mr. Paul Odama, the new Commissioner of Police in the state.

The PPRO in the statement said that the student leaders at the meeting explained to the Police Commissioner that the shutting down of the Airport by NANS was limited only to the Southwest zone and did not extend to the North Central states which include Kwara state.