Group seeks probe of LASPOTECH panel attack
A Coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) has called on the police to investigate those that disrupted the public hearing of the Visitation Panel set up by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on the lingering crisis at the Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH).
The group alleged that the action was to frustrate a thorough investigation into the crisis of the institution.
A statement by Ismail Olawale, on behalf of the group, sought prompt arrest and prosecution of the culprits irrespective of their status.
The group said: “Failure to act in accordance with the dictate of the law, by apprehending and prosecution of the culprits will give credence to impunity and further push LASPOTECH into abyss of lawlessness with revolting proportion.
“The coalition, therefore, wishes to draw the attention of security agencies and the general public to the unhealthy development, which is capable of igniting violence if not urgently curtailed. Members of the Coalition of Civil Society Organisations consider it objectionable that anarchy is being accorded a free reign in LASPOTECH by those who owe it a responsibility to maintain law and order.”
The coalition unequivocally condemned the unfortunate development in LASPOTECH, which is fast descending into full-scale chaos even as the Visitation Panel constituted by the Governor is yet to deliver on the onerous fact-finding mission on the administrative rot that ignited crisis in the institution.
“The coalition particularly considers it compelling to lament the cowardly disruption of the public hearing sitting of the Visitation Panel by thugs… It should be instructive to alert the public that the act of brigandage that was shamefully displayed at the public hearing had become the peculiar tactic of intimidation and suppression of those perceived as opposition by the discredited leadership of the institution.
“Desperation to instill fear through acts of violence is evidently the fallout of failure to achieve cover-up for administrative misdeeds through targeted highhandedness and victimisation of staff and students prior to the setting up of Visitation Panel by the Governor of Lagos State.”
The group called on the Lagos State Government to monitor the activities of the Visitation Panel saying that remains the only way to guide against compromise that will ultimately negate the primary objective of the fact-finding initiative.
